Heat Transfer Virtual Lab For Students and Engineers (2014)

EBOOKS Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for
FRIDMAN MAHAJAN
FOR THE Students and Engineers
THERMAL SCIENCE AND ENERGY
ENGINEERING Theory and Guide for Setting Up ENGINEERING COLLECTION
LIBRARY Ella Fridman Harshad S. Mahajan Derek Dunn-Rankin, Editor
Create your own Laboratory experiments are a vital part of engineering education,
Customized Content which historically were considered impractical for distance learning.
Bundlethe more This book presents a guide for the practical employment of a heat
Heat Transfer
books you buy, transfer virtual lab for students and engineers.
the greater your Inside, the authors have detailed this virtual lab which is designed
and can implement a real-time, robust, and scalable software sys-
Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for Students and Engineers

discount!
tem that provides easy access to lab equipment anytime and any-
Virtual Lab for

where over the Internet. They introduce and explain LabVIEW in
THE CONTENT
easy-to-understand language. LabVIEW is a proprietary software
Manufacturing
tool by National Instruments, and can be used to develop fairly
Engineering
complex instrumentation systems (measurement and control).
Mechanical
Students and
Fridman and Mahajan combined Internet capabilities with tra-
& Chemical
ditional laboratory exercises to create an efficient environment to
Engineering
carry out interactive, online lab experiments. Thus, the virtual lab
Materials Science
can be used from a remote location as a part of a distance learning
& Engineering
Engineers
strategy. With this book, youll be capable of executing VIs (Virtual
Civil &
Instruments) specifically developed for the experiment in question,
Environmental
providing you with great ability to control the remote instrument
Engineering
and to receive and present the desired experimental data.
Advanced Energy
Technologies Ella Fridman, PhD, was assistant professor and graduate program
director at University of Toledo until 2008 when she died in a car
Theory and Guide for
THE TERMS
Perpetual access for
accident. She started as junior scientist at the Institute of Thermo-
physics of the Ukrainian Academy of Science. In 1989 Ella Fridman Setting Up
a one time fee became a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and continued to work
No subscriptions or in the same Institute as senior scientists until 1990 when she immi-
access fees grated to the United States.
Unlimited Harshad Mahajan, MS, graduated from University of Toledo. He
concurrent usage worked as a software development specialist at Dox Systems LLC
Downloadable PDFs
Free MARC records
for three years before moving back to India. In India, he did free-
lancing and online tutoring. He has also worked with esteemed Ella Fridman
organizations like J.P. Morgan Chase and L&T Infotech. He pres-
For further information,
a free trial, or to order,
ently works as a Java application developer in Mumbai.
Harshad S. Mahajan
contact:
sales@momentumpress.net
ISBN:
ISBN: 978-1-60650-548-9
978-1-60650-574-8
www.momentumpress.net
HEAT TRANSFER
VIRTUAL LAB FOR
STUDENTS AND
ENGINEERS
HEAT TRANSFER
VIRTUAL LAB FOR
STUDENTS AND
ENGINEERS
Setting Up
ELLA FRIDMAN AND

HARSHAD S. MAHAJAN
MOMENTUM PRESS, LLC, NEW YORK

Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for Students and Engineers: Theory and Guide
for Setting Up
Copyright Momentum Press, LLC, 2014.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for
brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
First published by Momentum Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
ISBN-13: 978-1-60650-548-9 (print)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60650-549-6 (e-book)
Momentum Press Thermal Science and Energy Engineering Collection
DOI: 10.5643/9781606505496
Cover design by Jonathan Pennell

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America

Abstract
Laboratory experiments are a vital part of engineering education, which

historically were considered impractical for distance learning. In view of
this, the proposed book presents a guide for the practical employment of
a heat transfer virtual lab for students and engineers. The main objective
of our virtual lab is to design and implement a real-time, robust, and scal-
able software system that provides easy access to lab equipment anytime
and anywhere over the Internet. We have combined Internet capabilities
with traditional laboratory exercises to create an efficient environment to
carry out interactive, online lab experiments. Thus, the virtual lab can be
used from a remote location as a part of a distance learning strategy. Our
system is based on client-server architecture. The client is a general pur-
pose java-enabled web-browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome,
Opera, etc.) which communicates with the server and the experimental
setup. The client can communicate with the server and the experimental
setup in two ways: either by means of a web browser, which runs a dedi-
cated CGI (Common Gateway Interface) script in the server, or using the
LabVIEW Player, which can be downloaded and installed for free. In both
cases, the client will be capable of executing VIs (Virtual Instruments)
specifically developed for the experiment in question, providing the user
with great ability to control the remote instrument and to receive and pres-
ent the desired experimental data. Examples of this system for several
particular experiments are described in detail in the book.
KEY WORDS
armfield, distance learning, engineering education, heat exchanger, heat

transfer, heat transfer laboratory experiments, HT-30xc CGI (Common
Gateway Interface) script, LabVIEW Player, online lab experiments,
remote instruments, virtual laboratory, VIs (Virtual Instruments)
v
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
1Introduction 1
1.1 History of Distance Learning and Concept of Virtual Lab 1
1.2 What Is Virtual Lab? 2
1.3 Analysis of the Project Requirements 4
1.4 Learning Theory and Its Influence on Role Design 6
1.5 System Architecture 7
1.6 Model Hierarchy 9
1.7 Web User Interface 9
1.8 Questions 11
2 LabVIEW Basics 15
2.1 LabVIEW Introduction 15
2.2 G-Language 16
2.3 Front Panel 17
2.4 Block Diagram 19
2.5 LabVIEW Palettes 20
2.6 Programming with LabVIEW 21
2.7 Programming Structures 27
2.8 Data Acquisition with LabVIEW 32
2.9 Questions 37
3Hardware: Armfield Heat Exchanger and
HT30XC Service Unit 39
3.1 Operating HT30XC Using Customer-Generated Software 39
3.2 USB Interface Driver Function Calls 42
3.3 Labview Data Logger 44
vii
viii Contents
4Design of LabVIEW VI Program 49

4.1 Software: Algorithm of the Program 50
4.2 Introduction of LabVIEW Controls Used in the Project 51
4.3 Design of Front Panel 53
4.4 Design of Block Diagram 58
4.5 How Were the PID Parameters Values Derived
for Temperature Control? 60
4.6 Questions 65
5Experiments 67
5.1 How to Perform an Experiment Using
the LabVIEW Interface? 67
5.2 How Would a Student Access the Experiment
Over the Internet? 67
5.3 Experiment Results 69
6Factors Influencing the Virtual Lab 87
6.1 Drivers for Programmable Devices 87
6.2 Concurrent Requirements for Same Experiment 88
6.3 User Authentication 89
6.4 Issues Surrounding Live Training 89
6.5 System Management and Development 91
6.6 Future Developments 92
7Experiment Instructions 95
7.1 Instructions for the Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger Experiment 95
7.2 Instructions for the PID Control for Heater Experiment 96
8Related Work 103
Bibliography 105
Index 107
List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Key elements of a virtual lab 8

Figure 1.2. How JVM functions 12
Figure 2.1. Debugging tools in LabVIEW 16
Figure 2.2. Front panel 19
Figure 2.3. Block diagram 20
Figure 2.4. Tools palette 21
Figure 2.5. Controls palette 23
Figure 2.6. Functions palette 25
Figure 2.7. Front panel of simple calculator 26
Figure 2.8. Block diagram of simple calculator 27
Figure 2.9. Programming structures in LabVIEW 28
Figure 2.10. Example run of VI to demonstrate For Loop 28
Figure 2.11. Block diagram of VI to demonstrate For Loop 29
Figure 2.12. Block diagram of a VI to demonstrate Sequence 30
Figure 2.13. Example run of a VI 30
Figure 2.14. Front panel of a VI to demonstrate Case structure 31
Figure 2.15. Block diagram of a VI to demonstrate Case structure 31
Figure 2.16. Front panel of a VI to demonstrate Formula node 32
Figure 2.17. Block diagram of a VI to demonstrate Functions node 33
Figure 2.18. Data acquisition system components 33
Figure 2.19. Dataflow in DAQ system 35
Figure 2.20. USB ports 36
Figure 3.1. Armfield Heat Exchanger service unit 40
Figure 3.2. Location of Call library function VI 45
ix
x List of Figures
Figure 3.3. Function tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call

library function VI 46
Figure 3.4. Parameters tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call
Figure 3.5. Function tab setup of WriteAnalog function via Call
Figure 3.6. Data representation for the arguments of WriteAnalog
function48
Figure 3.7. Selection of data representation as I16 48
Figure 4.1. Pre-lab instructions tab 53
Figure 4.2. Controls tab 56
Figure 4.3. Readings tab 56
Figure 4.4. Analogy of block diagram and front panel 59
Figure 4.5. Block diagram of the LabVIEW interface 60
Figure 4.6. Schematic of the CSTH 61
Figure 4.7. Sudden increase in Ti 62
Figure 5.1. Concurrent operation flow directions 75
Figure 5.2. Cocurrent operation flow directions 75
Figure 5.3. System response temperature (T1) versus time 79
Figure 5.4. Parameter P versus time 79
Figure 5.5. Parameter I versus time 82
Figure 5.6. Parameter D versus time 82
Figure 7.1. Sustained oscillations in the system response 99
Figure 7.2. Unbounded output of the system 100
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my sincere thanks to my guide Dr. Ella Fridman

for her continuous support and encouragement throughout the duration of
the project. Her timely suggestions and patience in difficult phases of my
project were instrumental in successful completion of the project. Special
thanks to Dr. Clark Colton for giving me access to the online experiments
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The actual online-experiment
experience helped me understand my project better.
Successful completion of my project would not have been p ossible
without the initial help of my senior, Viji Venkatachalan. Her i nitial insight
into the project, as well as helping me grasp the LabVIEW web publish-
ing tool, saved me a good deal of project time.
Sincere thanks to Mr. Allen Rioux for providing me with the required
information for FTP access on the web server. Thanks to Al for extending
his help in fixing the mechanical problems with the equipment. Last but
not least, I am also grateful to all the students who used this project to per-
form their lab experiments and provided us with their invaluable feedback
that helped improve the project.
xi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The objective of this project is to design a user-friendly and efficient

system for interactive, online operation of remote education laboratory
equipment and experiments utilizing the Internet. This chapter intro-
duces the concept and short history of Virtual Laboratory and discusses
its needs and advantages. As a part of the requirements analysis for the
Virtual Lab project, we touch upon topics such as the overall system
architecture and model hierarchy, role design, and web user interface
design. This chapter lays the foundation for the rest of the book.
1.1HISTORY OF DISTANCE LEARNING AND

CONCEPT OF VIRTUAL LAB
During the last decade, we have witnessed rapid developments of com-

puter networks and Internet technologies along with dramatic improve-
ments in the processing power of personal computers. These developments
make interactive distance education a reality. By designing and deploying
distributed and collaborative applications running on computers dissem-
inated over the Internet, distance educators can reach remote learners,
overcoming the time and distance constraints.
Besides the necessary theoretical base provided by lectures and writ-
ten materials, hands-on experience provided by physical laboratories is a
vital part of engineering education. It helps engineering students become
effective professionals. It not only provides students the knowledge of the
physical equipment but also adds the important dimension of group work
and collaboration. However, laboratories are expensive to setup, to main-
tain, and to provide long hours of daily staffing. Due to budget limitations,
many universities and colleges can provide only limited access to such
physical equipment. Therefore, it is imperative to enable remote access to a
physical laboratory, as part of either an onsite or distance-learning course.
2 HEAT TRANSFER VIRTUAL LAB
Students like it better if given a chance to collaborate in small learning

groups. They are more motivated if they are in frequent contact with the
instructor. Therefore, the incorporation and reinforcement of collaboration
and interaction to support real-time video and audio communication are
becoming important features of remote laboratories. The objective of this
project is to design a user-friendly and efficient system for the interactive,
online operation of remote education laboratory equipment and experi-
ments, utilizing the Internet. Our goal is to introduce a remote lab design
that is simple, scalable, and flexible enough to allow users, who may not
be computer experts, to use the system to conduct virtual experiments.
The particular focus of this work is the design of a real-time, robust, and
scalable software system for use in thermodynamics courses to provide
students with hands-on experience with a heat transfer experiment for
them to compare measured characteristics with theoretical predictions and
reflect on discrepancies, limitations, and design constraints. The system
must run 24 7 to allow students to access it round the clock.
The heat exchanger unit used was a general-purpose service unit,
designed by Armfield Ltd, which supplied facilities and infrastructure
and was used in conjunction with a range of small-scale accessory equip-
ment for carrying out specific experiments involving heat exchangers.
The service units are operated and controlled via LabVIEW software on
a computer that, in turn, functions as a server with LabVIEW software
and that enables monitoring and control of the experiment on the Internet.
For remote operation of the experiment, it requires a browser and plug-in
that supports the Java 2 Runtime Environment (or the preceding) and the
LabVIEW 7.0 (or the preceding) Runtime Environment.
1.2WHAT IS VIRTUAL LAB?
The main objective of a Virtual Lab is to design and implement a real-

time, robust, and scalable software system around laboratory equipment
that provides a learner an easy access to the lab equipment anytime and
anywhere over the Internet.
The Internet offers interesting possibilities for disseminating educa-
tional material to students, both locally and as part of remote education.
Laboratory experiments are a vital part of engineering education, which
have so far been considered impractical for distance learning. However,
recent advances in Internet technologies and computer-controlled instru-
mentation presently permit Internet-based techniques to be utilized for
setting up remote laboratory access. Also, the use of Internet and studio
INTRODUCTION 3
classrooms is an emerging trend for promoting individual discovery as

a strategy for enhancing engineering education.
Here, we describe how these techniques can be combined with tradi-
tional laboratory exercises to create an efficient environment for interac-
tive online operation of lab experiments over the Internet, to be used either
in a studio setting or from a remote location as part of a distance-learning
strategy. Our system is based on client-server architecture. The client
is a general purpose java-enabled web browser, for example, Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and so forth. Web browsers commu-
nicate with the server and the experimental setup. In some cases custom
desktop software can be used as a client.
Previous versions of remote lab were based on a transmission con-
trol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) solution, which used Java applet
technology on the client (i.e., student) side. This was achieved by virtue
of a Java virtual machine (JVM) in the web browser that could download
and execute Java applet code. The client would see a pop-up window that
provided interaction and communication directly with the server. How-
ever, unsigned applets make it tough for the client to store and present
the measurement data, and to transfer them to other applications (except
by cut-and-paste) because of Javas security structure. An intermittent
problem with Java applet is that the functionality of an applet may vary
between different browsers.
The LabVIEW software from National Instruments offers an inter-
esting solution for measurement and control system. It also provides the
desired Internet access to the lab, out of the box. It has the following inter-
esting features:
1. Graphical programming
2. Simplicity in design
3. Acquire and save the measurements and readings for further analy-
sis in various file formats including xls, csv, txt, and so forth
4. Stand-alone instrument control through vendor-specific or generic
plugins
5. Automated tests and validation system
In this solution, the lab-side server runs a full version of LabVIEW,

which incorporates Internet communication capabilities and functional-
ities to access/control instruments and to acquire/output data. The client
can communicate with the server and the experimental setup in two ways:
either by means of a web browser, which runs a dedicated Common Gate-
way Interface script in the server, or by using the LabVIEW Player, which
can be downloaded and installed for free. In both cases, the client will be
capable of executing virtual instruments (VIs) specifically developed for
the experiment in question, providing the client with great ability to con-
trol the remote instrument and to receive and present the desired experi-
mental data. The other solution seeks to exploit the additional functionally
of the recent browsers, enabling the server system to respond in many
different formats, such as JavaScript, HTML, or eXtensible Markup Lan-
guage (XML), which gives the client great flexibility in storing, process-
ing, and presenting the data received. This is achieved by creating web
solutions based on either the information server application information
interface (ISAPI) server extensions, or on a component object model with
extensions (COM+) solution at the lab side.
1.3ANALYSIS OF PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
The project intends to increase its student base through online education
aimed at fulfilling the needs of remote students. Remote students need
time flexibility, instant guidance, and feedback. This project intends to
design a system around virtual labs to achieve exactly that in a perfect
pedagogical approach. The project places great emphasis on laborato-
ries that account for approximately 40 percent of program content. The
distance-learning program must continue to offer the same quality of
interaction with the faculty and the laboratory that it now offers its onsite
students. Remote laboratories have been successfully used in electrical
engineering education to interact with spectroscopy, measurements, and
control systems laboratories. The same is to be achieved for mechanical
engineering students.
This book describes the pilot version of a remote interactive lab-
oratory that is used for thermodynamics laboratories by students from
remote sites. In a remote delivery scenario, it is important that the deliv-
ery mechanism, laboratory course content, and instructional design be
tailored to
1. Model an active remote-learning environment that engages the stu-

dent in achieving learning outcomes
2. Model a collaborative environment for group interactions
3. Design appropriate roles for supporting the collaborative environment
4. Provide unambiguous feedback and instant guidance to the students
5. Match the characteristics of the media (delivery medium) to spe-
cific learning outcomes and processes
INTRODUCTION 5
A discussion of the salient pedagogical features of the onsite program is

provided as this is important to understand the requirements and imple-
mentation issues faced by the online program. The Virtual Lab employs
three types of interactions to ensure effective learning:
1. Lectures by expert instructors

2. Hands-on laboratories
3. Group interaction with peers
Case studies, projects and group work correlate with the three well-
known pedagogical approaches, namely, objectivist, constructivist, and
group interaction, respectively. The objectivist approach emphasizes that
students learn by explicitly being informed or taught by subject experts.
The constructivist approach is based on learners learning by performing
authentic activities and constructing knowledge in authentic learning
environments.
The group interaction approach is based on groups of learners engag-
ing in collaborative problem solving that increases student engagement
with the subject matter resulting in better learning. The hands-on labo-
ratories build practical internetworking abilities and skills in students
and correspond to a constructive, collaborative, situated, learner-centric
environment. Situated learning has been used in technology-based courses
to present academic knowledge in a practical context to teach students
problem-solving skills and is employed in the Virtual Lab to transform
novice students into experts in the context of the industry in which they
will ultimately work.
In the labs, the students gain a broad range of hands-on experience
and knowledge to understand the practical conditions under which to
apply specific internetworking principles, theories, and techniques. The
laboratory employs state-of-the-art networking equipment, simulators,
and other hardware in a learner-centric environment that engages students
in collaborative activities. Students learn to apply theoretical knowledge
to practical networking issues, hands-on configuration of equipment, and
strategies and techniques for troubleshooting networks. Most engineering
activities in a modern enterprise are conducted in a collaborative setting
with a lot of interaction among team members. This makes it impera-
tive that the project models and implements a collaborative environment
onsite to facilitate the acquisition of problem solving, reasoning, and man-
agement skills required by the companies today. Student interaction is
encouraged by suitably designing laboratory activities such that students
carry them out in groups of two to three.
1.4LEARNING THEORY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON

ROLE DESIGN
In addition to a rich repertoire of learning resources and aids, e-learning

includes tailoring learning modules to address how students engage in
learning, fostering effective e-learning strategies and instructional design
that incorporate the latest techniques in pedagogical research to support
learning at a pace that is comfortable to the student. These objectives can
be met with either a self-paced environment in which the student learns at
a rate comfortable to the individual or a directed environment in which the
student has to follow a particular sequence of instructions.
The learning environment can also be classified as synchronous requir-
ing the simultaneous participation of students in the class or asynchronous
in which a student may participate at a time convenient to them. Also, the
characteristics of a media used in communication can be assessed using
media synchronicity theory and include characteristics such as a medi-
ums capacity to provide feedback, symbol variety, instruction of multiple
students, tuning message content, extent to which message can be repro-
cessed, and unambiguousness.
One of the challenges facing the online laboratory is how best to
mimic the onsite face-to-face interaction between students and faculty,
which is critical to learning technology-intensive courses. Most onsite
students benefit from face-to-face interaction with instructors, provided
the faculty to student ratio is at reasonable levels. The same interaction
can be achieved in an online program using a well-designed facilitation
approach. Good e-learning begins with effective, real-time, reliable, and
secure student interaction with the e-learning system. All other steps in the
e-learning process rely on this crucial student interaction phase. The most
important measure that a student will use for repeat interaction with an
e-learning system of a university is the ease in using the system.
From the universities viewpoint, the ease in using an e-learning sys-
tem is a function of system design and is determined by several factors
such as its accessibility, usability, reliability of system, help available,
responsiveness of the system, and appropriateness of system response to
student input and support for many simultaneous users. The communica-
tion channel characteristics, protocols, and technology must be designed
for real-time applications. The metrics by which an e-learning resource
may be evaluated include the following:
1. Expert curriculum
2. Ease of use
INTRODUCTION 7
3. Involve continuous assessment

4. Allow real-time feedback to track student performance
5. Employ multimedia simulations, laboratories, and user interaction
to create a dynamic, engaging environment for learning
6. Enhance problem-solving techniques on an individual or group basis
Most courses require the students to interact with the devices in the labora-
tory. For this purpose, onsite students access and configure the devices in
the laboratory using a command line interface or a graphical user interface
(GUI). A key issue with the remote delivery of the Virtual Lab content is
to convert the onsite student interaction with the devices in the laboratory
into online real-time interaction with the devices.
1.5 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
It is prototype system that is intended to support experiments in the area of

electronics, but its structure poses no limitations on other types of exper-
iments also, such as in physics, mechanical engineering, or some similar
field of engineering or science.
It is quite a general structure that can be implemented using various
software and hardware in different ways. The main goal and intention of
such configuration is to fulfill a number of requirements.
Universal configuration suitable and easily adopted to various

kinds of experiments
Structured configuration that can be implemented using various
hardware and software
Easily scalable configuration that can be extended to meet the fol-
lowing requirements:
1. Increase in number of users
2. Introduction of new experiments
3. Increased number of existing experiment runs
Consists of hardware/software that are not too specific and intended
more or less for general use
Control of users competing requests for the same experiment or the
same experiment equipment
Clear distinction and defined communication between classes on different

levels aids to minimum dependence between classes and also enables reus-
ability and independent changes between classes, as long as interfaces
Roles layer
Lab in-charge Students
Logical layer Lab scheduling Reporting

software software
component component
Application Client software

software
Driver software
Physical layer
Instrumentation Interface
Application
Storage server Network
Figure 1.1. Key elements of a Virtual Lab.
between classes remain the same. Remote access to experiment and

experimental equipment has various limitations and demands that can be
met up to a certain extent. The main idea and intention of this system is
to make and provide the basic functionality of laboratory conditions and
requirements usual for practical and experimental work, online, from the
side of a remote student that uses a PC and Internet browser as the main and
only tool.
Two basic approaches are possible. One is the intention to make
very similar conditions and user interface to instruments that are in the
real lab, to make available all controls, switches, and buttons existing in
real equipment, also available for online student. Such an approach is a
very demanding one, and it is essentially impossible to create identical
conditions for a remote user and student in the real lab working on real
equipment.
INTRODUCTION 9
The other approach is a more flexible one, that is, the intention is
not to create as similar conditions as possible, but to make some kind of
adapted remote laboratory system that will provide the functionality based
on the logical interconnection with theoretical material, serving as support
for easier understanding and also for the introduction and illustration of
basic notions characteristic for measurements. The presentation and user
interface are accommodated to different conditions imposed by remote
access. Only the most important controls, measured values, and results are
shown, and the user interface can be quite different comparing to labora-
tory instruments, but logically quite functional and sufficient for complete
understanding. In this book, the first approach is used, as it is primarily for
the illustration of main characteristics, functionality, and capabilities of
implemented prototype of remote laboratory system.
1.6 MODEL HIERARCHY
In Figure 10.1 Roles Layer can be further divided into 3 tiers. Tier 1 consists
of Faculty and Administration (including the director), Tier 2 consists of
teaching/lab assistants, and Tier 3 consists of students. Tier 1 administra-
tion handles finances, enrollment, registration, and other functions associ-
ated with disseminating program information (students get automatically
enrolled for the lab class when they register for the course associated with
it). The faculty is the sole course content provider in charge of designing
an expert curriculum. It also administers tests, examines and assesses stu-
dents, and provides feedback on student competencies, thus meeting the
e-learning resource metrics of expert curriculum. It is also the responsi-
bility of Tier 1 personnel to maintain the integrity of the educational pro-
cess. The teaching/lab assistants (Tier 2) maintain and update lab notes for
each course. In addition, they test and configure the devices in the Inter-
net-working laboratory for proper use and create and maintain user account
information based on information from the administration. In general, the
teaching/lab assistants, guided by the faculty, maintain a dynamic, engag-
ing mechanical laboratory that is easy to use and meet e-learning resource
metrics. The Tier 2 support maintains and upgrades network services on
servers and workstations at the remote site.
1.7 WEB USER INTERFACE
Web user interface is on the highest level and serves for communication
with remote usersstudents. Web interface for Virtual Lab consists of
two parts. The first part is the theoretical introduction and explanation for
the experiment that will be performed. It also includes precise instruc-
tions on how to perform the experiment, the meaning of all values that
should be entered or selected, and values that are obtained as a result of
the experiment. Besides textual information about the experiment, it sup-
ports a graphical presentation of measured data in the experiment, which
is important for the full understanding of the performed experiment. With
graphical presentation, it is very easy to see that presented data are from
the real world, obtained on real equipment with all the influences that
cannot be avoided in real experiment. Together with the basic shapes of
obtained lines that characterize the observed dependencies, the unavoid-
able noise is also present. A web interface should also contain means for
control of user access to the system.
1.7.1EXPERIMENT
The logic is used for the following:
Collecting the user input data from the corresponding web page
Checking the data consistency
Preparing and sending data to programmable devices for equip-
ment management
Full control and management of the experiment process using the
programmable devices
Accepting the data measured in experiment from programmable
devices
Data processing and calculation of indirectly measured quantities
Preparing and sending data to a web server
1.8 QUESTIONS
1. What is the main objective of a Virtual Lab?

The main objective of a Virtual Lab is to design and implement a
real-time, robust, and scalable software system around laboratory
equipment that provides a learner easy access to the lab equip-
ment anytime and anywhere over the Internet.
2. List the technologies that enable Virtual Lab.
a. Internet/web technologies and computer-controlled instrumentation
b. Java, Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java Runtime Environment JRE
c. LabVIEW
INTRODUCTION 11
3. What is the problem with using applets for designing a Virtual

Lab system?
When a user visits the experiment website and if the page has applet to
run, the user is presented with a confirmation dialogue. The applet code
is run if and only if the user permits. Sun Systems designed the security
model of applet in such a way that not even a novice user is duped into
running a malicious code on the computer, without his own notice.
There are two types of applets:
1. Sandbox applets or unsigned applets
2. Privileged applets or signed applets
Sandbox applets are run in a security sandbox that allows only a
set of safe operations. Sandbox applets are not signed. Their limita-
tions are (but not limited to) as follows:
They cannot access client resources such as the local filesys-
tem, executable files, system clipboard, and printers. Thus this
makes it hard for the user to save the experiment data.
They cannot connect to or retrieve resources from any third-
party server (any server other than the server it originated
from). This puts limitations on the system design.
In order to allow the applet to save the data to the hard disk, one
must make it a privileged applet by getting the applets signed. Priv-
ileged applets can run outside the security sandbox and have exten-
sive capabilities to access the client. Privileged applets are signed
by certification authorities digitally at a cost.
4. What is JVM?
JVM is, as the name suggests, a virtual machine that is capable
of executing Java bytecode. It is a software that Sun Systems
has designed. Sun Systems has separate JVMs for individual
platforms. JVM in essence acts as a translator that translates Java
bytecode instructions to platform-specific instructions (Figure 1.2).
What is the advantage of all this? The answer is platform indepen-
dence. It is a huge time saver for application developers! It facil-
itates the application, designed for one platform, to be ported to
another platform with more ease. It does not need to be completely
re-written. One interface designed for accessing the lab can now
be used from desktops/laptops (Intel X86 JVM) as well as from
mobiles or PDAs (ARM JVM).
5. How does National Instruments LabVIEW software help in
the virtualization of a lab?
NI LabVIEW provides a matured solution for the virtualization of
a lab. This software has existed for more than 20 years now in the
Developer writes JAVA Program

Test.Java
Java
Developer uses Javac (java compiler) to convert .java to .class files. .class
files are java bytecode files.
Java Test.class
bytecode
JVM converts the java bytecode to platform specific

instructions.
OS specific
instructions
Figure 1.2. How JVM functions.
scientists and engineers community. Instrumentation is a piece of

cake with the help of LabVIEW. The graphical programming fea-
ture takes the complexity out of the design phase, thus facilitating
rapid prototyping and validation. A rich plethora of plugins let the
VI designer achieve anything and everything possible in the world
of instrumentation.
The LabVIEW learning curve for a novice user is not steep either,
thanks to the graphical programming feature, budding community
of users, and exceptionally prompt support from NI. One can be
quickly up to speed in a matter of days.
The feature that really enables remote access is publishing a
VI over the Internet. It literally takes nothing but a button click.
Literally! Once a VI is published, it runs a server on a given port.
It shows the address to which the clients can connect, for example,
http://<your public ip>:5080. The users can connect to this address
using any browser, just like we browse any other website. Once
the VI is loaded completely onto the users browser, the user can
control the VI to his wish.
OS SUPPORT
LabVIEW supports the various operating systems: as listed in 01: Operat-

ing Systems supported by LabVIEW
INTRODUCTION 13
Table 1.1. Operating Systems supported by LabVIEW
Windows Mac OS X Linux Sun Solaris
Windows NT Tiger Red Hat SPARC 32-Bit

Enterprise Linux
Windows 2000 10.5 Leopard Scientific Linux
Windows XP 10.6 Snow Open SUSE
(32-bit) Leopard Linux
Windows Vista 10.7 Lion
(32-bit)
Windows Vista 10.8 Mountain
(64-bit) Lion
Windows 7
(32-bit)
Windows 7
(64-bit)
Windows 8
(32-bit)
Windows 8
(64-bit)
Windows RT
Windows Server
2003 R2
(32-Bit)
Windows Server
2008 R2
(64-Bit)
CHAPTER 2
LabVIEW Basics
If the reader is already familiar with LabVIEW, this chapter can be

skipped. This chapter covers the following aspects of LabVIEW keeping
the scope of this book in mind:
1. Block Diagram
2. Front Panel
3. G-Language
4. LabVIEW Palettes
5. Hands on LabVIEW for designing simple calculator
2.1 LabVIEW INTRODUCTION
LabVIEW is a very nice tool for scientists, engineers, and academies to

perform rapid prototyping of virtual instruments. LabVIEW programs are
called as VIs, that is, virtual instruments. The LabVIEW basics can be
itemized as follows:
1. Graphical language (G-language) programs called virtual instru-

ments (VIs)
2. Each VI has two main components:
a. Front Panel: User interface of the VI.
b. Block Diagram: The code that contains graphical representa-
tions of functions to control the Front Panel objects. It may con-
tain sub-VIs.
3. The Front Panel contains the following:
a. Controls: Inputs to the program (numerals, strings, etc.)
b. Indicators: Outputs of the program (numerals, strings, plots,
etc.)
4. A Block Diagram consists of the following:
a. Icons: These are means of representing operations and sub-Vis.

Icons have terminals defining inputs and outputs to the opera-
tions. The sub-Vis, representations of controls and indicators in
the Front Panel, are wired to each other or to constants.
b. Wires: Means of connecting operations and VIs to other opera-
tions, VIs, inputs and outputs, controls, and indicators.
5. The palettes are as follows:
a. Tools
b. Controls
c. Functions
2.2G-LANGUAGE
To engineers, scientists, researchers, and all of us, it is more intuitive to

think graphically. LabVIEW is equipped with the G-language. G, in
G-language, represents Graphical. As the name suggests, it allows the
user to program, graphically. A user can drag and drop a for loop struc-
ture icon instead of typing for loop syntax and thus drawing a program
in a block-diagram instead of typing it.
G is a complete programming language. LabVIEW comes with a full
suite of compiler, linker, and debugger for G. The Block Diagram pro-
grammed using G is directly compiled into the machine code, just like any
other language.
The interactive debugging tool, as shown in Figure 2.1, is the best
friend of LabVIEW developer. Single stepping, probing wires, and exe-
cution highlighting are few features to name. Execution highlighting
illuminates the wire, controls, and shows the data as it passes through the
Block Diagram. This helps in understanding the order of execution. When
the Block Diagram has any syntactical problems, the broken Run arrow
immediately indicates that the VI needs to be fixed. Various
data types are presented with different colors, as mentioned in Table 2.1
and different shapes of wires.
It is easy to embed a C code in LabVIEW. All one needs to do is
build a DLL from the C code. LabVIEW provides the Call Library Func-
tion node, which can be used to link to such a DLL and call the function.
Figure 2.1. Debugging tools in LabVIEW.

LabVIEW BASICS 17
Table 2.1. Color code representation of data

types in LabVIEW
Color Data Type
Blue Integer
Orange Float
Purple Char
Green Bool
Unfortunately embedding a Java code is not as easy as embedding C. One

needs to implement a Java Native Interface (JNI). The functions calling
into the JNI internally can be wrapped in a wrapper DLL. This DLL can
provide an API to the external world. Wrapper DLLs can be created by
making use of C IDE like LabWindows.
Let us look at the java code snippet that calculates 5 and how the
same program can be drawn in G-language. Drawing a program on a
canvas can be a new concept. It is very similar to drawing any Block
Diagram. Each programming structure is a block, with input and output.
These blocks are connected to each other using wires. Java code and G
Block Diagram are shown side-by-side in Table 2.2.
2.3FRONT PANEL
The Front Panel is the user interface of the VI. Figure 2.2 shows a simple
Front Panel of a calculator. We will design the same in Section 2.6.1.
The Front Panel is a kind of front desk of the company. It can be
designed by bringing together various input and output controls from the
palettes. The input controls include text boxes, numeric incrementers,
toggle buttons, sliders, and so forth. The output controls can be graphs,
LEDs, labels, and so forth. Other controls include labels, images, borders,
and so forth. For every control, we pull onto the Front Panel; we get its
background counterpart in the Block Diagram window. A Front Panel can
be made as sophisticated as the user wants, depending upon the appli-
cation. LabVIEW provides a plethora of controls, such as various types
of buttons, LED indicators, dials, waveform plotters, and so forth. The
Front Panel shown in the image is of a simple calculator application. It
shows two numerical inputs and four numerical outputs. Each of these six
controls has its counterpart in the Block Diagram window shown in the
following section.
Table 2.2. Comparison of java code with LabVIEW G-language
Java G-language
Summation.java Summation.vi
package com.momentumpress.labview.ch7;
publicclass Summation {
publicstaticvoid main(String[] args){
int N = 5;
int sum = 0;
//For loop java syntax
for(int i=1; i<=N; i++){
sum = sum + i;
}
System.out.println(Summation of + N + = +sum);
}
}
Output: Output:
Summation of 5 = 15
LabVIEW BASICS 19
Figure 2.2. Front Panel.
Depending upon the application, Front Panels can quickly get pretty
sophisticated. The Front Panel of the virtual lab experiment of Chapter 4
is a good example of a sophisticated Front Panel. It makes use of many
controls, indicators, charts, and programming structures. It can be seen in
Figure 4.5.
2.4 BLOCK DIAGRAM
A Block Diagram is the back office where all the processing really hap-
pens. This is where all the components, controls, and functions are wired
together. The Figure 2.3 shows the Block Diagram of the Front Panel of
a calculator, shown in the Figure 2.2. Num1 and Num2 are the numerical
inputs, whereas the rest of the four controls are numerical outputs. The
orange wires and controls represent their data type as integer. The triangles
represent the numerical operations; we perform on the numerical inputs. It
is fairly simple to comprehend, mainly due to its graphical nature.
Figure 2.3. Block diagram.
2.5 LABVIEW PALETTES

2.5.1 TOOLS PALETTE
Figure 2.4 shows the Tools Palette. Select the menu option View > Tools
Palette to see the Tools Palette. Hover the cursor on the small icons to see
the name of each tool. In the palette, there are the following: Operating
tool, Positioning tool, Labeling tool, Wiring tool, Edit Text tool, Scroll
Window tool, Breakpoint tool, Probe tool, and Operate Value tool. When a
tool icon is clicked, the cursor takes the shape of the icon when it is on the
Front Panel or the Block Diagram, thus giving visual guidance of the tool
to the user. Alternatively, if the Automatic Tool Selection is on, the mouse
pointer automatically turns itself into the appropriate tool when brought
closer to the relevant objects. For instance, the mouse pointer turns into
a Connect Wire tool when brought closer to the terminals on the
Block Diagram window, or it turns into Operate Value tool when
brought closer to a button on the Front Panel window.
LabVIEW BASICS 21
Figure 2.4. Tools Palette.
2.5.2 CONTROLS PALETTE
Select the menu option View > Controls Palette or right-click the Front
Panel to see the Controls Palette (Figure 2.5). This palette has subpalettes
as shown in Table 2.3 (as of LabVIEW 2013).
Notice that this palette is highlighted and operational when the Front
Panel is active. Hover the cursor on the icons to see the pop-up names.
Expand the subpalettes to see the available controls and indicators under
that category. Show/Hide Subpalettes allows the user to pick and choose
the visible subpalettes.
2.5.3 FUNCTIONS PALETTE
Select the menu View > Functions Palette or right-click the Block
Diagram workspace to display the Functions palette (Figure 2.6). If you
right-click the Block Diagram window, the Function palette appears in
temporary mode, in other words, it disappears immediately when the
Block Diagram loses focus. To make the Functions palette stay on, click
the thumbtack in the upper left corner of the palette to pin the palette so it
is no longer temporary.
Subpalettes in the Functions palette are described briefly in Table 2.4.
2.6 PROGRAMMING WITH LABVIEW
LabVIEW programming is a relatively easy task. One does not have to

learn clumsy syntax. It is advisable that the user understands the basics of
LabVIEW explained in the previous sections. Knowledge of LabVIEW
Table 2.3. Controls sub-palettes
Subpalettes Description
Modern You will find most of your Front Panel needs

catered by this subpalette.
Silver The silver controls are adaptive controls that
change their look and feel depending on the
platform the VI is run on.
System Collection of controls and indicators to use in
creating the container UI such as horizontal tabs
and vertical tabs. It also contains decorative
controls.
Classic Collection of controls and indicators to create Vis
for low-color monitor settings.
Express It is a subset of frequently used controls from the
Modern subpalette. The aim of this palette is to
allow the frequently used controls to be located
quickly.
.NET & ActiveX Collection of controls and indicators to
manipulate common .NET or ActiveX controls.
User Controls This palette is initially empty. The user can
custom-create a control and add it to this palette.
Control Design and Collection of controls and indicators to construct
Simulation plant and control models using transfer function,
state-space, or zero-pole-gain. This category
also has tools to analyze system performance
with tools such as step response, pole-zero
maps, and Bode plots.
Signal processing Collection of tools for wavelet and filter-bank
design for short-duration signal characterization,
noise reduction, time-series analysis, and time-
frequency analysis.
Add-ons The user can purchase specific toolkits from
National Instruments or third-party vendors.
Such toolkits appear in this category.
LabVIEW BASICS 23
Figure 2.5. Controls palette.

Table 2.4. Subpalettes in the functions palette
Subpalettes Description
Add-ons The user can purchase toolkits and install it

as plugins. Such toolkits are shown in this
subpalette.
Connectivity Collection of functions for web services, source
control, .NET object connections, ActiveX
objects, and so forth.
Data Collection of functions used for Data
communication Communication over the ports.
Express Collection of common measurement functions.
Favorites Convenient grouping of frequently used
functions. The user can add/remove functions
from this subpalette.
Instrument I/O Collection of functions used for I/O,
communication with the external physical
instruments. NI Instrument Driver Finder is a
good place to search for the drivers to use with
LabVIEW. The Instrument I/O Assistant can
be used to communicate with message-based
devices.
Mathematics Collection of functions used for mathematical
analysis. It contains functions for Curve Fitting,
Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra,
Integration, Differentiation, and so forth.
Measurement Installed hardware drivers are shown as functions
under this subpalette.
Programming Basic programming structures can be found under
this subpalette, e.g., For loop, While loop, File
I/O, and so forth.
Signal processing Collection of functions used for Signal
Processing. It includes wfm generation, wfm
conditioning, wfm measurement, filters,
transforms, windowing, and so forth.
User Libraries By default this palette is empty. The user
can create libraries and add them under this
subpalette.
LabVIEW BASICS 25
Figure 2.6. Functions palette.
environment, G, Functions Palette, and Controls Palette is helpful to build

a sophisticated application.
However, if the user wants to skip the basics and cannot wait to get
hands dirty with the nuts and bolts of LabVIEW, in this section we will
build a simple calculator VI to get the feel of LabVIEW.
2.6.1 SIMPLE CALCULATOR
Steps to get a simple calculator up and running as follows:
1. Start LabVIEW.
2. Create project and save it as Calculator.vi.
3. Go to Block Diagram window. Right click on the workspace to
open the Controls palette.
4. Under Modern > Numeric subpalette, find Numeric Control and
Numeric Indicator. Drag two instances of Numeric Controls and
four instances of Numeric Indicators. Arrange all the controls as
shown in Figure 2.7.
5. Double click on the labels to edit the name of the control. Name one
of the Numeric Indicators Num1 and the other Num2. Name the
Numeric Indicators as Num1 + Num2,Num1 Num2,Num1
* Num2, and Num1 / Num2, as shown in Figure 2.7.
Figure 2.7. Front Panel of simple calculator.
6. Now go to the Block Diagram window.

7. Right click anywhere on the Block Diagram window, to bring up
the Functions Palette.
8. Under Programming > Numeric category, find the Add, Subtract,
Multiply, and Divide functions. Drag each of them onto the Block
Diagram.
9. If the Automatic Tool Selection mode is not on, please turn it on as
explained in the Tools Palette section. Once the Automatic Tool
Selection mode is turned on, bring the mouse cursor closer to the
terminals and watch the cursor change to Wiring Tool, automatically.
10. In the Wiring Tool mode, simply single click to start the wiring.
Move the cursor all along toward the terminal we want to connect
to. The wire will autoshape itself around the blocks. When the cur-
sor is on the other terminal, single click again to end the wiring.
Now continue with the wiring and complete the connections as
shown in Figure 2.8.
LabVIEW BASICS 27
Figure 2.8. Block Diagram of simple calculator.
Table 2.5. Divide by zero behavior of LabVIEW
Num1 Num2 Num1/Num2 Num1 * Num2
0 0 NaN 0
1 0 Inf 0
1 0 -Inf -0
11. Once all the connections are in place, all you need to do is click on
the Run Continuously button. You can now play around
by inputting the values in the Numeric Controls. Please note that
LabVIEW is smart enough to recognize the Divide By Zero case
as shown in Table 2.5.
2.7 PROGRAMMING STRUCTURES
The available programming structures are shown in Figure 2.9. We will

touch base with only a few of those structures.
Figure 2.9. Programming structures in LabVIEW.
2.7.1 FOR LOOP
For loop executes a subdiagram number of times. is an input to

the For Loop. is an output terminal of the For Loop. It indicates the
completed iteration count. Let us design a simple Summation.vi to explain
the For Loop.
The Front Panel of Summation. vi is very simple with one Numeric
Control and two Numeric Indicators as shown in Figure 2.10.
We have calculated the sum in two ways:
1. Using the For Loop

n ( n + 1)
2. Using the formula n =
2
As can be seen from the Block Diagram of the Summation.vi in
igure 2.11, the top section calculates the sum using For Loop and the
F
bottom section calculates the sum using formula.
Figure 2.10. Example run of VI to demonstrate For Loop.

LabVIEW BASICS 29
Figure 2.11. Block Diagram of VI to demonstrate the For Loop.
The time delay of 1 s allows the user to see the Numeric Indicator
named Sum (Calculated by For Loop) and update the sum on every
iteration. It helps the user appreciate the fact that the sum is calculated by
going over the Add operation N number of times.
Shift Register is a new control in this VI. It is used for passing the
values between iterations of the loop. We pass the sum calculated in the
current iteration to the next iteration through the Shift Register. The Shift
Register can be introduced to a loop structure by right-clicking the left or
right border of a loop and selecting the Add Shift Register from the short-
cut menu. We need to initialize the shift registers otherwise; it uses the old
value from the last run as its default value. In our case, we initialized the
shift register to zero by wiring a constant 0 to the input terminal of the shift
register .
2.7.2SEQUENCE
In some cases the order of execution is of importance. We want to main-

tain a dependency of events. For example, we want to save the readings of
an experiment to a file only after all the readings are available. Once the
file is saved to a disk, only then do we want to upload the file to say an FTP
server. This is where the sequence structure comes in handy.
Figure 2.12. Block Diagram of a VI to demonstrate sequence.
Figure 2.13. Example run of a VI.
Sequence structure contains a set of subdiagrams or frames that exe-

cute in sequence. There are two types of Sequence structures, namely,
flat sequence and stacked sequence. The only difference is in their view.
Astacked sequence shows only one frame at a time as it has all the frames
in a stack. It saves space on the Block Diagram. A flat sequence is shown
in the Block Diagram in Figure 2.12.
As shown in Figure 2.12, the flat sequence shows three frames. The
sequence starts from left to right. The message boxes appear in the sequen-
tial order, as shown in Figure 2.13.
2.7.3CASE
Case structure executes only one case out of the available cases based on
the selector value arrived at the selector terminal. The VI of the V-Lab
experiment makes use of the case structure to choose the subdiagram
based on the mode of operation, namely, co-current or concurrent.
LabVIEW BASICS 31
Figure 2.14. Front Panel of a VI to demonstrate case structure.
Figure 2.15. Block Diagram of a VI to demonstrate Case Structure.
As can be seen, the toggle button on the Front Panel in Figure 2.14
is wired to the selector input terminal of the case structure in Figure 2.15.
In our example the selector value is of type Boolean. Similarly we can tie
String, Integer, enumerated type, and error cluster to the Selector terminal.
The Selector Label shows the subdiagram for that particular case selector
value.
2.7.4 FORMULA NODE
Formula Node is used for evaluating mathematical expressions (Fig-

ure2.16). The following built-in functions are allowed as keywords in the
Formula node: abs, acos, acosh, asin, asinh, atan, atan2, atanh, ceil, cos,
cosh, cot, csc, exp, expm1, floor, getexp, getman, int, intrz, ln, lnp1, log,
log2, max, min, mod, pow, rand, rem, sec, sign, sin, sinc, sinh, sizeOfDim,
sqrt, tan, tanh.
The Formula Node has its own syntax, very similar to C language. There
are mathematical parsers available in LabVIEW too, which should not be
confused as Formula Node (Figure 2.17). They are two separate functions.
The V-Lab experiment VI makes use of the Formula Node to eval-
uate the expressions for calibrating the hot and cold water flows during
runtime.
2.8 DATA ACQUISITION WITH LABVIEW
Data acquisition systems usually comprise the following:
Device or instrument under observation

Hardware interface (Universal Serial Bus [USB], General Purpose
Interface Bus [GPIB], and so on.)
Figure 2.16. Front Panel of a VI to demonstrate

Formula Node.
LabVIEW BASICS 33
Figure 2.17. Block Diagram of a VI to demonstrate Functions Node.
Transduce
Hardware or
Signal
device under
conditioning
observation
Figure 2.18. Data acquisition system components.
Computer
Driver software
Application software (Figure 2.18)
2.8.1 VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTATION
An instrument is a device that measures a physical quantity such as tem-

perature, flow, pressure, and so forth, and the term instrumentation
simply means putting together such instruments in order to measure and

control the process variables. And virtual instrumentation comprises
instruments that are not hardware but software that mimic the hardware.
A physical device called analog to digital converter (ADC) is used for
converting the analog signals to digital signals before feeding them to the
computers.
A synthetic instrument is a virtual instrument that is used for spe-
cific synthesis, analysis, or measurement purposes. The term synthetic
in synthetic instrument is a kind of misnomer in the sense that it might
seem to imply that the synthetic instrument is particularly a synthesizer.
Instead, because the instrument itself is synthesized by software, it is
called so. The instrument can be a pure analyzer or even a synthesizer.
A synthetic instrument working group (SIWG) has been created by
DoD (Dept. of Defense, USA) for the sole purpose of defining standards
for interoperability of synthetic instrument systems. SIWG defines syn-
thetic instrument (SI) as A reconfigurable system that links a series of
elemental hardware and software components with standardized inter-
faces to generate signals or make measurements using numeric processing
techniques.
Virtualization drastically reduces the cost of and boosts the speed of
instrumentation.
2.8.2 COMMUNICATION WITH DAQ DEVICES
The data acquisition (DAQ) system usually consists of a transducer or a

sensor, ADC, driver software, and application software.
A transducer is a sensor that is used to sense the physical quantity
and transform it into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is either
a voltage signal or a current signal. The signal obtained from a sensor is
usually of a very low magnitude. Hence, an amplifier is used to increase
the magnitude of the signal in a proportionate manner without losing the
information in the signal. This amplified signal is then passed through the
ADC circuit for digitizing the signal.
The ADC circuit consists of components such as Sample and Hold
Circuit, Quantizer, and Encoder (Figure 2.19). As the name suggests,
Sample and Hold circuit simply samples a signal and holds it for a min-
imum period of time. It eliminates the variations in the input signal that
can corrupt the quantization process. The quantization process maps the
continuously varying input signal to a finite set of values, that is, round-
ing the value to given precision. In the process, the quantizer is bound
to introduce a round-off-error due to truncation. This error is called as
LabVIEW BASICS 35
Sample and
Sensor Quantizer Encoder
Hold circuit
Figure 2.19. Dataflow in DAQ system.
q uantization error. A quantized signal is then passed to the encoder. The

encoder encodes the signal in order to correct and reduce the transmission
errors. The encoded signal is then passed over to the computer over the
USB or GPIB interface.
The driver software is specific to its hardware. It exposes a set of
function calls that facilitate communication with the hardware. The appli-
cation software builds on top of the driver. It calls the functions and passes
the parameters through these function calls to the device. For example:
a. function ReadAnalog (var channel: integer; var value: integer);

b. procedure WriteAnalogs (var AO1: integer; var AO2: integer);
stdcall;
c. procedure ReadDigital (var channel: integer; var value: integer);
stdcall;
d. procedure WriteDigitals (var DO1: integer; var DO2: integer;
var DO3: integer; var DO4: integer; var DO5: integer; var DO6:
integer; var DO7: integer; var DO8: integer); stdcall;
e. procedure SetMode (var Mode: integer); stdcall;
2.8.3 GENERAL PURPOSE INTERFACE BUS
Originally it was developed by HP in the 1960s as an easier way to inter-

face the instruments and controllers for automated test equipment. It was
called Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (HP-IB). Other companies began
using it and christened it the GPIB (general purpose interface bus). GPIB
was standardized in 1975 by the IEEE and again in 1978 and 1987. IEEE
448.1 became the standard for the connector, and IEEE 488.2 the control
command standard. GPIB is a well-adopted standard for connecting fast

as well as slow devices in the same system. Up to 15 connectors can be
stacked together. In LabVIEW, there are tools called Instrument Drivers,
which are collections of functions and VIs that implement the commands
necessary to perform the GPIB instruments operations.
The flip side of GPIB is that the connector is large and bulky. USB is
a cheaper alternative to GPIB. Besides, GPIB can deliver the data at max-
imum transfer rate of 8 Mbits/s whereas USB 3.0 can transfer at 5Gbits/s.
Every general purpose computer comes with USB ports. It is not the case
with GPIB.
2.8.4 UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS
Universal serial bus was originally designed in the mid-1990s to stan-

dardize the connection of computer peripherals such as keyboard, mouse,
printer, and so forth. USB has almost kicked out serial and parallel ports
from the general computer world. Nowadays, many portable devices
Type Port image Connector image

4.5 mm 12.0 mm
Type A
7.3 mm 8.5 mm
Type B
3.0 mm 6.8 mm
Mini-A
3.0 mm 6.8 mm
Mini-B
Figure 2.20. USB ports.

LabVIEW BASICS 37
come with USB power chargers. Also, the instrumentation world banks
upon this cheaper and faster interface standard. USB defines four types of
ports as shown in Figure 2.20.
The Armfields heat exchanger equipment is fitted with USB interface
with Type-B port. A USB cable with Type-A and Type-B port is also pro-
vided with the setup. Hence, it is very easy to connect the device to any
general purpose computer that has a USB port.
2.9 QUESTIONS
1. What is G language? What are the advantages of G language

over textual languages?
The answer to this question can be found in Section 2.2 G-language.
2. How to get an evaluation copy of LabVIEW?
https://lumen.ni.com/nicif/us/cdlveval/content.xhtml
3. Can the evaluation period be extended?
Yes, it can be extended by 45 days. Extension is allowed only once.
https://delta.ni.com/extendedevaluation/index.xhtml?p_lang=US
CHAPTER 3
Hardware:
Armfield Heat Exchanger
and HT30XC Service Unit
This chapter describes the hardware we used for the Heat Exchanger
Virtual Laboratory. The hardware used was from the Armfield company.
We will discuss the details of how to interface a computer with this hard-
ware. Following details are provided in this chapter:
Details about channel allocations,

Significance of each channel and its signal,
Universal serial bus interface function calls.
3.1OPERATING HT30XC USING

CUSTOMER-GENERATED SOFTWARE
We have used HT30XC for this project (Figure 3.1).
3.1.1 CHANNEL ALLOCATIONS
The interface between the Armfield heat exchanger bench and the com-
puter is a universal serial bus (USB) interface, meeting the standard
Microsoft protocols. Armfield is registered with Microsoft as an autho-
rized supplier of USB interfacing equipment.
The interface is capable of passing data on 26 channels, as described
in the following text:
1. Analog Inputs: 8 differential channels or 16 single-ended channels,

each with 5V to 5V signals digitized into a 12-bit number. The
interface will pass a value between 2047 and 2047 to the computer.
Figure 3.1. Armfield Heat Exchanger service unit. (Source: HT30XC

Instruction Manual.)
2. Analog Outputs: Two channels, each with 5V to 5V signals, taken

from a 12-bit number. Computer must pass a value between 2047
and 2047 to the unit.
3. Digital Inputs: Eight channels each receiving a 0 or 1.
4. Digital Outputs: Eight channels each passing a 0 or 1.
The channel allocations for the HT30XC are tabulated in the following
text.
Table 0.1. Analog Signals from Heat Exchanger to Computer (source:

HT30XC User Guide)
Channel Code Use Scaling
0 T1 Hot water temperature 5V = 0C, +5V = 133C

5 T6 Cold water temperature 5V = 0C, +5V = 133C
HARDWARE 41

10 F1 Hot water flow 0V = 0 L/min, 5V= 25 L/min
11 F2 Cold water flow 0V = 0 L/min, 5V= 5 L/min
12 Not used
13 Not used
14 Not used
15 Not used
Table 0.2. Analog Signals from Computer to Process (source: HT30XC

User Guide)
Channel Code Description Scaling
0 P1 Hot water pump speed 0V = stopped, 5V = full

speed
1 V1 Cold water valve setting 0V = Closed, 1.5V = Just
Opening, 3.5V = Fully
open
Table 0.3. Digital Signals from Process to Computer (source: HT30XC

User Guide)
Channel Title Description Scaling
0 Not used
1 Not used
2 Low Monitors the water level 0 = Low Level; 1 = OK
level in the hot water vessel
3 Not used
4 Ther- Monitors the output of 0 = Over Temp; 1 = OK
mostat/ the over-temperature
level thermostat AND the
monitor water level in the hot
water vessel
5 Not used
6 Not used
7 Not used
Table 0.4. Digital Signals from computer to process (source: HT30XC

User Guide)
Channel Title Description Scaling
0 Power on Allows the power on 0 = Power Off; 1 = Power On

request relay to be energized,
subject to the presence
of an appropriate
watchdog pulse
1 Watchdog Pulsed signal to keep Pulsed signal, min rate 1
pulse the watchdog circuit pulse every 5 seconds
energized, enabling the
heat exchanger bench
power to be turned on
2 SSR drive Time-modulated signal 0 = heater off; 1 = heater on
controlling the hot
water heater solid state
relay (SSR)
3 Pump Controls the change 0 = countercurrent; 1 =
direction over relay that reverses co-current
the hot water pump
direction
4 Stirrer on Only used on HT34 0 = off; 1 = on
5 Aux.heater 0 = off; 1 = on
control
6 Not used
7 Not used
3.2USB INTERFACE DRIVER FUNCTION CALLS
Armfield Heat Exchanger comes with a driver file ARMIFD.DLL. This

interface driver DLL file exposes functions for four types of data I/O as
explained in the following text. The integer is a 32-bit integer type.
3.2.1 READ ANALOG
This function takes the channel number as its argument and returns the
current value of physical quantity at that channel.
function Read Analog (var channel: integer; var value: integer); stdcall;
HARDWARE 43
Table 3.1. Channels and their significance
Channels Description
07 Differential channels
015 Single-ended channels
1631 Multiplexed channels
Table 3.2. Significance of values returned by

ReadAnalog function
Returned value Description
2047 5V
9999 Error
The std call directive indicates that the call is handled in a way that is
recognizable by most programming languages, including LabVIEW.
Table 04 shows how the channel number should be selected:
Table 3.2 shows the meaning of the values returned.
3.2.2 WRITE ANALOG
procedure WriteAnalogs (var AO1: integer; var AO2: integer); stdcall;
There are only two analog channels as explained in Table 0.2. This call
sends values to both the analog output channels. The values sent should be
between 2047 corresponding to 5V.
3.2.3 READ DIGITAL
procedure ReadDigital (var channel: integer; var value: integer); stdcall;
This call returns the values from one of the eight digital channels mentioned
in Table 0.3. The meaning of the returned values is described in Table 3.3.
3.2.4 WRITE DIGITAL
procedure WriteDigitals (varDO1: integer; varDO2: integer; varDO3 :

integer; varDO4 : integer; varDO5 : integer; varDO6 : integer; varDO7 :
integer; varDO8 : integer); stdcall;
Table 3.3. Significance of values returned by

ReadDigital function
Returned value Description
0 Channel is off
1 Channel is on
1 Error
Table 3.4. Significance of mode argument in

SetMode function
Mode value Description
0 8 differential channels
1 16 open-ended channels
This call writes values from the eight digital output channels. Please note
that all the arguments to this call have to be either 0 or 1.
3.2.5 SET MODE
procedure SetMode (varMode : integer); stdcall;
One needs to set the device to single-ended or differential mode. This

function allows us to do so. Table 3.4 explains the meaning of the argu-
ment mode.
3.3 LABVIEW DATA LOGGER
3.3.1 READANALOG INPUT CHANNELS
1. Go to the Block Diagram window and right click to open the Func-
tions palette.
2. From the functions palette, pick Call Library Function and place
it on the block diagram. Search for Call Library Function or directly
find it under Connectivity > Libraries & Executables subpalette as
shown in the Figure 3.2.
3. Double click the Call Library Function icon to open the
settings UI.
HARDWARE 45
Figure 3.2. Location of Call Library Function VI.
4. As shown in Figure 3.3, go to the Function tab. Type the path of

the DLL in Library name or path textbox or use the browser to
find the path and select it.
5. Type function name as ReadAnalog. Alternatively, if the ArmIFD.
dll path is valid, then choose the function from the dropdown.
6. Choose Calling convention as stdcall (WINAPI).
7. Choose Thread as Run in UI thread.
8. Go to the Parameters tab and add two parameters of the type
Signed 32-bit Integer, namely, channel and value. We need to Pass
the parameters as Pointer to Value. Also set the data type of return
type parameter as void as shown in Figure 3.4.
9. Notice that the icon has changed to .

10. Note that there are two input and two output terminals to the icon.
11. Wire a Numeric Control to the input named channel. And wire a
Numeric Indicator to output named value.
12. Run the VI. See the value that is being displayed in the Numeric
Indicator named Value.
Figure 3.3. Function tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call Library
Function VI
Figure 3.4. Parameters tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call Library
Function VI.
HARDWARE 47
Figure 3.5. Function tab setup of WriteAnalog function via Call Library
Function VI
3.3.2 READ THE DIGITAL INPUT CHANNELS
Follow the same steps as explained in Section 3.1.3.1 except that the func-
tion name to be specified is ReadDigital.
3.3.3 WRITING THE ANALOG OUTPUTS
Figure 3.5 shows Call Library Function setup for writing to analog chan-
nels. Please make sure that the controls tied to the two input terminals are
clamped at -2047 and +2047. This can be done through the Data Entry tab
of the Properties window for the Numeric Control. Set Response to value
outside limit to Coerce.
Also, set the data representation to Word (I16) as shown in Figure 3.6
and Figure 3.7.
3.3.4 WRITING THE DIGITAL OUTPUTS
Follow the same steps as explained in Section 3.1.3.1 except that the func-
tion name to be specified is WriteDigital and add eight parameters, named
DO1 to DO8 to this function.
Figure 3.6. Data representation for the arguments of WriteAnalog function
Figure 3.7. Selection of data representation as I16

CHAPTER 4
Design of LabVIEW
VI Program
This chapter details all the aspects of the LabVIEW VI program, used
for the Heat Exchanger experiment. Every control used and its purpose
in the virtual instrument (VI) is explained. It gives a fair idea about how
the VI was built. Hence, it gives the reader enough material to start
building one of his or her own for future work.
Once the knowledge of how to use the LabVIEW controls and indi-
cators is obtained, as mentioned earlier, LabVIEW programming is as
easy as dragging and dropping the required controls and indicators
very much similar to putting together puzzle pieces! One gets to experi-
ence real rapid prototype development in the world of instrumentation,
by virtue of LabVIEW. The ability of rapid prototyping in turn helps the
designer incrementally better the design.
Let us begin with the algorithm of the VI.
4.1SOFTWARE: ALGORITHM OF THE PROGRAM
Start
C
Initialize the VI
Set Readings Counter to 0
Set default operation modes, colors of graphs, values in the
controls, set power switch off.
N
Power Switch On?
Send the Power On signal to the equipment
Read the temperature & flow values, update the digital

displays & graphs with the new values.
Calculate the PID output in % for flow control. Convert it into

the numbers corresponding to the flow values to be inputted
to the equipment.
Comparator Temp control Mode =

PID or Comparator?
PID
Calculate the PID output in % for temperature control. Convert
it into the number corresponding to the temperature value to
be inputted to the equipment.
Convert the temperature input into the number corresponding

to the temperature value to be inputted to the equipment.
N
B Start Readings?
A
DESIGN OF LABVIEW VI PROGRAM 51
B
A
Update the readings counter & start recording the readings in

the table.
N
Clear Table?
Initialize the readings counter & clear the table for fresh set.
N
Stop Recording?
Stop recording readings & updating the readings c

ounter.
N
Write Readings
to file?
Save the readings in an xls file on the LabVIEW server & FTP
the file to the web server.
y
Continue? C
Stop
4.2INTRODUCTION OF LabVIEW CONTROLS

USED IN THE PROJECT
Though it is not a prerequisite, it is recommended to read Chapter 2 Lab-

VIEW Basics before starting with this section. It will help to get a back-
ground about LabVIEW.
The controls used in the project can be broadly classified into follow-
ing categories:
Execution controls: They are explained in brief in the following

text.
Other block diagram objects: They are explained as and when they
are encountered in the front panel and block diagram design in the
following text.
4.2.1 EXECUTION CONTROLS
There are three execution controls that were used extensively in the proj-
ect, namely:
1. While loop
2. Case structure
3. The stacked sequence structure
4.2.1.1While Loop
It repeats the subdiagram inside it until the con-

ditional terminal, an input terminal, receives a
particular Boolean value, that is, in our case the
While Loop executes indefinitely until the VI is
in the running mode. The While Loop is so con-
figured that it executes at least once. The iteration terminal provides
the current loop iteration count, which is zero for the first iteration.
The hardware HT30XC has a watchdog circuit. This circuit acts as a
safety valve. It expects a signal from the computer every 10 s. If a signal is
not received, the circuit considers it as a computer crash or software fail-
ure. In such a case, it automatically switches off the heater and the pump
thus keeping the hardware safe.
We have used the terminal to generate the watchdog pulses. A
minimum of 1 Watchdog pulse every 5 s is needed by Armfields equip-
ment in order to run the equipment. Our LabVIEW interface provides a
watchdog pulse to the equipment every other second (1 pulse/2 s).
4.2.1.2Case Structure
This structure has many cases, exactly one of

which executes when the structure executes. The
value wired to the selector terminal determines
which case to execute. You can also label the case
the way you want. The label can be a Boolean,
string, integer, or enumerated. Right click the
structure border to add or delete cases.
We have used this structure in five places in our block diagram:
1. To select the type of heater control

2. To execute the case depending upon whether the heater control is
on or off
3. To execute the case when the user hits Record Data

4. To execute the case when the user hits Clear Table
5. To execute the case when the user hits Write readings to file
4.2.1.3 Stacked Sequence Structure
The Stacked Sequence structure, shown on the

left, stacks each frame so we see only one frame
at a time and executes frame 0, then frame 1, and
so on until the last frame executes. The Stacked
Sequence structure returns data only after the last
frame executes. The Stacked Sequence structure
helps to conserve space on the block diagram.
We have made use of this structure to implement a simple state
machine with two states. In first state we store the recorded readings from
the LabVIEW interface into an excel file onto the hard drive of the labs
computer. In the second state, we FTP it to the server. The server is used
to store the latest READINGS.xls file, which then can be downloaded
using a hyperlink provided on the web page of the experiment.
4.3 DESIGN OF FRONT PANEL
The front panel makes the web interface that the students use to perform
the experiment online. The front panel consists of three tabs, namely, Pre-
lab Instructions, Controls, and Readings. We will discuss each tabs design
in detail in the following sections.
4.3.1 PRE-LAB INSTRUCTIONS TAB
Figure 4.1 shows the Pre-lab instructions. The same pre-lab instructions
are shared as a part of experiment material. However, putting it up on the
experiment UI, is a convenience for the student.
4.3.1.1Architecture
This tab has nothing more than a Text label control.
4.3.1.2 Intended Function
This tab contains all the instructions that an experimenter is expected to read
and understand. They will facilitate the experimenter to use the interface.
4.3.2 CONTROLS TAB
The Controls Tab is the heart of this VI. All the controls and indicators
are on this tab. The user/student uses this tab to perform the experiment.
This tab can be vertically divided into two halves. The left half contains
the controls whereas the right half consists of indicators and graphs. In the
left half the relevant controls are separated into five logical groups. The
right half contains the three graph plotters for hot water flow, cold water
flow, and temperatures. Each of these graphs and the controlgroups are
explained in brief in Table 4.1.
4.3.2.1Architecture
The Controls tab (Figure 4.2) contains the following:
This is the main tab, which is used for performing the experiment. It con-
tains all the controls and indicators needed. It can be used to input various
parameters and observe the real time graphs of hot flow rate (L/min), cold
flow rate (L/min), and temperature (C).
Figure 4.1. Pre-lab instructions tab.

Table 4.1. Architectural components of Controls Tab
Snapshot of the Controls from Controls tab Description

When the water level in the hot water tank goes below the sensors level, this
indicator turns RED, and the equipment stops running.
Co-current Mode: Hot and cold water flow in the same direction through the shell
and tube heat exchanger.
Countercurrent Mode: Hot water flows in the opposite direction of cold water
through the shell and tube heat exchanger.
This is a power switch, when turned on, an LED glows on the equipment that
brings the equipment to life.
Using these controls the flow rates and temperature can be set.
Hot water flow rate range: 0 to 5 L/min
Cold water flow rate range: 0 to 5 L/min
Temperature set point range: 0 to 100C

This switch is used to switch between two control modes, namely, proportional-
integral-derivative Control and Comparator Control.
This cluster of text control is used to set the P, I, and D parameter values.
This is an indicator that shows the current time period selected for the pulse width
modulation (PWM).
This is a simple picture control that is used to describe the schematic of the shell
and heat exchanger. It also shows the thermostat locations with four dynamically
selectable colors.
This is a graph control that plots the four temperature graphs. Each graph bears the
corresponding color. The graph color can be changed dynamically. Since there
are four graphs displayed at a time, this dynamic color selection feature comes
handy in correlating each graph to its thermostat location on schematic and the
digital reading beside.
Figure 4.2. Controls tab.
4.3.3 READINGS TAB
Figure 4.3. Readings tab.
4.3.3.1Architecture
This tab contains three push buttons and a table (Table 4.2).
This tab is where the experimenter can record the readings while the VI
is running. The readings can be written or exported to an excel file. If
needed, the table can be cleared to start a fresh set of readings.
Table 4.2. Functional description of the push buttons on Readings Tab
Push button Function of the button
Record data When pressed, it records the readings in the

table. It keeps recording until depressed
explicitly.
Clear table In order to clear the table, one first needs
to stop recording, if the Record Data
button was pressed earlier. And then press
the Clear Table button. It clears all the
readings in the table.
Write the readings to file It writes the readings from the table to an
excel file named readings. xls and saves
it on the C:\ of the server. When this push
button is pressed, it pops up a message ask-
ing Replace an existing file? One needs
to hit the Replace button on that message
immediately. Otherwise, the VI stops run-
ning until the Replace button is hit.
4.4 DESIGN OF BLOCK DIAGRAM
The Block Diagram contains the entire LabVIEW program. Figure 4.4
shows an analogy, where the Block Diagram is the back office operation
center or a factory and the Front Panel is the Front Desk. The way the
Front Desk staff liaises between customers and the Back Office, Lab-
VIEW Front Panel accepts the inputs from the user and communicates
the outputs to the user in a presentable manner, while the actual processing
of the inputs is taken care of by the Block Diagram.
Figure 4.5 shows the block diagram used by us to implement the vir-
tual Heat Exchanger lab. The figure at the first glance appears to be very
complex. However, LabVIEWs strengths abstracted the complexity away
from the prototyping process and it appeared to be easier while designing
this complex looking VI.
Explaining every control on the VI is out of scope. Instead, it is
better that the VI be downloaded from the publishers website and
self-studied.
Figure 4.4. Analogy of Block Diagram and Front Panel.
4.5HOW WERE THE PID PARAMETERS VALUES

DERIVED FOR TEMPERATURE CONTROL?
There are two approaches:
1. Analytical (mathematical derivation): The analytical approach is

followed when the process is not available and the PID parame-
ters need to be found before the design. In this one needs to have
as accurate a mathematical model of the system as possible. This
method is explained in Section 4.5.1.
2. Experimental (the ultimate cycle method): However, in our case,
we had the process available to experiment with. In such a case,
where the system is available to experiment, there are two methods
to find out the optimum PID parameters, namely:
1. The ultimate cycle method
2. The process reaction method
We used the ultimate cycle method that required us to get the
two measurements from the process and use those measurements
to get the PID parameter values using the formulae given by the
method.
Figure 4.5. Block Diagram of the LabVIEW interface.

4.5.1 ANALYTICAL (MATHEMATICAL DERIVATION)
This section only explains about P control for the tank heater. The rest of
the parameters derivation can be done on similar lines.
(Reference: Stephanopoulos, G. 1984. An Introduction to Theory and
Practice. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.)
Problem Definition: How should Q change in order to keep temp T const

and, when Ti changes? (Q, T, and Ti are defined in the following text).
Our system (Armfields Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger equipment)

includes two elements:
1. Continuously stirred tank heater (CSTH)

2. Shell and tube heat exchanger
Both have their own mathematical models. However, we can ignore the
heat exchanger model for the time being and only concentrate on the
CSTH (Figure 4.6).
Let,
Fi: Flow rate of the water entering the CSTH.
Ti: Temperature of the water entering the CSTH.
F: Flow rate of the water leaving the CSTH.
T: Temperature of the water leaving the CSTH.
Q: Heat energy supplied to the water in the tank by the steam. (Note:
In our case the heat energy will be supplied by the electrical heater.)
Fi, Ti
F, T
Steam
control
Steam out
valve
Steam in
Figure 4.6. Schematic of the CSTH.

Ti,s
t=0 Time
Figure 4.7. Sudden increase in Ti.
Answer:-
In steady state (i.e. T=Ts, V=v) where T is temperature and V is vol-
ume of the water in the tank.
The energy balance around the tank yields.
0 = Fx Cp(Ti,s Ts) + Qs (4.1)
where
x = Heat coefficient
Cp = Specific heat of water
Now,
Suppose Ti increases suddenly as shown in Figure 4.7.
If nothing is done on Q, the temperature T will start rising with time.
And, h T changes with time will be given by the transient energy
balance around the tank.
That is,
dT
V x Cp = F x Cp(Ti T) + Q(4.2)
dt
where,
V = volume of the water in the tank.
(4.2) (4.1) gives
d (T Ts )
V x Cp = F x Cp[(Ti Ti, s) (T Ts)] + [Q Qs]
dt
{
{
{
Accumulation MV
= TTs = Error or deviation of liquids temp T from desired value Ts.
We want to drive to zero by manipulating appropriately the value
of heat i/p Q.
To do this, there are various control laws. We are only interested in
PID laws, namely, P, PI, and PID.
For P control:
Q = a(T Ts)
=a
Put this in Equation 4.2,
d
V x Cp = F x Cp[(Ti Ti,s) x] + [a x Qs]
dt
= F x Cp[x ] + [a x Qs] (x is constant)
d 1 1
= F x Cp x F x Cp
dt V x Cp V x Cp
1 1
+ [a Qs ]
V x Cp V x Cp
1
assume a =y
V x Cp
1
Qs =z
V x Cp
y, z are constants.
d
= ( F x) ( F ) + (y z)
dt V V
d
= ( F x z) ( F +y)
dt V V
a b
{
{
0 t
d
dt = 0 dt
1
ln(a + eb )0e = t
b
a
In( ) = bt
a + b
1
= e-bt
b
1+ ( )
a
= (a/b)(ebt 1)
Notice that a and b are constants and b is proportional to , which is

our controlling factor. As increases, the response is faster.
Thus, by plotting responses of error versus various values of , we can
choose the appropriate value of .
Similarly, in case of PI control law, is proportional to error and pro-
portional to the time integral of (TTs).
According to this P-I control law, the value of the i/p Q is given by:
t
Q = a (T Ts) + (T Ts ) dt + Qs.
t 0
Q = a + dt + Qs.
0
We can derive similar expression of error as a function of .
4.5.2 EXPERIMENTAL (ULTIMATE CYCLE METHOD)
1. In this method, the two measurements to be obtained are

a. Ultimate gain (Gu)
b. Ultimate period (Pu)
2. The following method is used to find out the preceding two values.
3. First set parameters D=0 and I=0. Then start up the process with P
to a low value (say 1).
4. Increase P such that the controlled variable starts to oscillate. (We
call it sustained oscillations.)
5. The last value of P that gave the sustained oscillations is the value of
Gu. And the period of the oscillations is Pu (measured in minutes).
With these values in hand, we can calculate the PID values from the fol-
lowing formulae.
Case 1) For P only control:
P = 0.5 Gu
Case 2) For PI control:
P = 0.45 Gu
I = 1.2/Pu (min1)
Case 3) For PID control:
P = 0.6 Gu
I = 2.0 / Pu (min1)
D = Pu/8 (min)
1. Calculations and tuning:
We obtained
Pu = 80 s = 1.33 Min
Gu = 282
As we wanted to use PID control, we get the PID values from the formulae
as follows:
P = 169.8
I = 1.5
D = 0.166
These values gave me the initial PID values to start the tuning with.
2. Now after putting these values and observing the system response
for approximately 5 min, we observed that the amplitude of the
oscillations was reduced but the system was moving toward insta-
bility (so-called unbounded output).
That means, the integral component was more. We have to
reduce I by 50%.
Now I = 0.75
P = 169.8
D = 0.166
3. This brought the system back to stability. However, there was a
steady state error of almost 1 degree. The parameter that contributes
to SS error is P. That means P has to be reduced. Hence P was
reduced by 50%.
Now P = 85
I = 0.75
D = 0.166
4. There still remained an SS error of 0.5 degree. Hence we reduced
P by 50 % again.
Now P = 40 (Instead of 42), I = 0.75, D = 0.166
Also we thought of making it faster. Hence, we doubled the D value
to 0.322 and then to 0.4.
4.6 QUESTIONS
1. What is watchdog circuit? What is the use of it?

Watchdog circuit is fitted on the HT30XC service unit as a safety
measure. This circuit is polled by the computer every 10 s by send-
ing a pulse. If the pulse is not received from the computer in 10 s,
this circuit detects that and considers a communication channel
failure or a software crash. In this case, this circuit automatically
switches off the heater and the pump to avoid overheating and a
permanent damage to the service unit.
2. How is while loop structure utilized in the experiment?

The While Loop structure accommodates the whole experiment.
The Loop Condition is tied to a push button. This button is labeled
Start/Stop and is used for starting and stopping the experiment.
3. How is the stacked sequence structure used in the VI?
The requirement of our experiment is the dependency of the fol-
lowing events in that order:
1. Start taking the readings.
2. Save the readings to a file.
3. Stop taking the readings.
4. Upload the file to a FTP server immediately.
As explained earlier, we want to save the readings of an experi-
ment to a file only after all the readings are available. Once the file
is saved to a disk, only then do we want to upload the file to say
an FTP server. This is where we have used the stacked sequence
structure.
5. How is the case structure used in the VI?
We have two modes of operation for the Heat Exchanger setup,
namely, co-current and concurrent. The case structure is used for
allowing the user to choose between the two modes of operations.
There are two ways to control the temperature, namely, PID control
and comparator control. To allow this choice, the case structure is
used.
6. Describe the ultimate cycle method.
In 1942, J.G. Ziegler and N.B. Nichols published two methods
for tuning P, PI, and PID controllers. These two methods are the
ZieglerNichols closed loop method (ultimate cycle method) and
the ZieglerNichols open loop method (process reaction-curve
method).
7. What is ultimate gain and ultimate period?
Ultimate gain is the maximum value of |Gu| that results in a sta-
ble closed-loop system when the proportional-only control is used.
2p
Ultimate period is given by the equation P = , where wc is the
wc
value of and open loop phase angle is 180.
CHAPTER 5
Experiments
This chapter shows the four experiments that can be performed using the
Virtual Lab setup.
Experiment 1 Shell and tube heat exchanger
Experiment 2 Energy balance across a shell and tube heat
exchanger
Experiment 3 Temperature efficiencies and temperature pro-
files of counter-current and co-current mode of
operation
Experiment 4 PID control of the heater
5.1HOW TO PERFORM AN EXPERIMENT USING

THE LabVIEW INTERFACE?
The LabVIEW interface is developed such that the user can easily control
all the process parameters from a single screen. A separate screen has been
developed to take the readings conveniently. There are two experiments
that are designed to be performed with Armfields Heat Exchanger equip-
ment using the LabVIEW interface so far.
1. Heat exchanger experiment

2. PID control of the heater
Instructions to perform these experiments can be found in the appendix at

the end of the book.
5.2HOW WOULD A STUDENT ACCESS

THE EXPERIMENT OVER THE INTERNET?
A website is developed, which has a Perform Experiment section that

can be used to access the experiment over the Internet.
5.2.1WEBSITE
The website has currently five sections, namely:
1. Home
2. Equipment
3. Instructions
4. Perform experiment
5. Assignments
Home: This section currently has a snapshot of the actual equipment used
for the experiment. However, this section gives introductory information
about the website.
Equipment: This section gives information about hardware peripherals.
It mentions various details about HT30XC Service Unit and HT33 Shell
and Tube Heat Exchanger. It also shows schematic as well as pictures of
the real equipment.
Instructions: This section has all the instructions required for a user to
get his/her computer up for accessing the experiment online. Also, the
general instructions required for running the LabVIEW VI are included
in this section.
Perform experiment: This section has the actual LabVIEW interface
for the experiment. In order to view this interface, one needs to follow
the instructions in the instructions section to install all the prerequisite
software.
Assignments: This section has experiment-specific assignment files. One
can easily download these MSWord files and use them to perform the
experiment along with the general instructions provided in the Instruc-
tions section.
5.2.2 INSTALLING PREREQUISITE SOFTWARE
Two prerequisite software need to be installed on the computer in order

to access the experiment online. Following are the instructions to install
those prerequisites.
To perform an online experiment you will need,
1. LabVIEW Runtime engine

2. JAVA Runtime engine
EXPERIMENTS 69
You may find both these software on the Internet. Or to install the
above-mentioned software, please follow the instructions step by step:
1. Either use your own computer or use those machines that will let
you install the above-mentioned software. (Note: To install these
software, you need to login with Admin rights.)
2. Go to the following link: http://<your_hostname>/Instructions.html
3. Under the heading Computer Requirements, you will see links to
download the above-mentioned software.
4. Download and install both software on your machine.
5. Restart the computer.
When the prerequisite software are installed, you will need to follow the
instructions given in the following text before you can actually start with
the experiment:
1. Go to the URL http:// <your_hostname>//index.html

2. Click on the Perform Experiment hyperlink. It will open a new
window that will have the LabVIEW interface for the experiment.
3. Right click on the VI and select Request Control. You should see a
message Control Granted in order to proceed with the experiment.
5.3EXPERIMENT RESULTS
This section shows the sample run of both experiments. As mentioned

earlier, there are two experiments designed with the Armfields heat
exchanger and LabVIEW interface. This section shows the sample run of
both experiments.
5.3.1 EXPERIMENT 1: SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
This experiment demonstrates indirect heating or cooling by transfer of

heat from one fluid stream to another when separated by a solid wall (fluid
to fluid heat transfer).
The input parameters are as follows:
T1 (Temp of hot water in) : 60C

Hot water flow rate : 1 L/min
Cold water flow rate : 3 L/min
Experiment results using Armfields interface
Table 01: Readings of countercurrent mode of operation
Hot water Hot water Cold water Cold water

Sample Temp T1 Temp T2 Temp T3 Temp T4 pump setting flowrate valve setting flowrate
number (C) (C) (C) (C) (%) Fhot (L/min) (%) Fcold (L/min) Flow orientation
1 61.2 49.9 15.5 19.4 19.000 1.02 76 3.02 Countercurrent
2 60.9 49.6 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.00 76 3.00 Countercurrent
3 60.8 49.5 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.00 76 3.00 Countercurrent
4 60.7 49.5 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.04 76 3.00 Countercurrent
5 60.9 49.4 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.02 76 3.02 Countercurrent
6 60.9 49.4 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.01 76 3.03 Countercurrent
7 61.1 49.5 15.5 19.2 19.000 0.95 76 3.00 Countercurrent

8 61.1 49.3 15.5 19.1 19.000 0.98 76 3.02 Countercurrent
9 61.2 49.3 15.5 19.2 19.000 0.99 76 3.01 Countercurrent
10 61.3 49.5 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.01 76 3.00 Countercurrent
11 61.2 49.4 15.5 19.1 19.000 0.99 76 3.03 Countercurrent
12 61.2 49.7 15.5 19.1 19.000 0.99 76 3.04 Countercurrent
13 61.0 49.7 15.5 19.2 19.000 0.98 76 3.02 Countercurrent
14 61.0 49.3 15.5 19.2 19.000 0.96 76 2.99 Countercurrent
15 60.9 49.2 15.5 19.1 19.000 0.98 76 3.00 Countercurrent
16 60.8 49.4 15.5 19.2 19.000 1.00 76 3.02 Countercurrent
17 60.8 48.9 15.4 19.1 19.000 0.97 76 3.02 Countercurrent
18 60.8 49.3 15.4 19.0 19.000 0.96 76 3.07 Countercurrent
19 60.7 48.9 15.4 19.0 19.000 0.98 76 3.06 Countercurrent
Readings for co-current mode of operation
Hot water Hot water Cold water Cold water

Sample Temp T1 Temp T2 Temp T3 Temp T4 pump setting flowrate Fhot valve setting flowrate
number (C) (C) (C) (C) (%) (L/min) (%) Fcold (L/min) Flow orientation
1 55.0 62.3 15.4 22.8 33.000 2.01 54 2.08 Co-current
2 55.5 63.1 15.4 22.9 33.000 2.01 54 2.12 Co-current
3 55.4 62.6 15.4 22.9 33.000 2.02 54 2.11 Co-current
4 54.9 62.0 15.4 22.9 33.000 2.04 54 2.11 Co-current
5 54.9 62.1 15.4 22.7 33.000 2.00 54 2.09 Co-current
6 55.0 61.9 15.4 22.8 33.000 2.02 54 2.08 Co-current
7 55.0 62.4 15.4 22.8 33.000 1.99 54 1.92 Co-current
8 55.2 62.4 15.5 23.1 33.000 2.04 54 1.98 Co-current
9 55.7 62.6 15.4 23.2 33.000 2.02 54 2.00 Co-current
10 55.2 61.9 15.4 23.1 33.000 2.01 54 2.00 Co-current
11 55.6 62.9 15.4 23.2 33.000 2.02 54 2.03 Co-current
12 55.0 62.2 15.4 23.0 33.000 2.00 54 2.01 Co-current
13 55.2 62.1 15.4 23.1 33.000 2.05 54 2.00 Co-current
14 55.7 62.9 15.4 23.2 33.000 2.02 54 2.03 Co-current
15 54.9 62.0 15.4 23.2 33.000 2.04 54 1.99 Co-current
16 55.2 62.2 15.4 23.1 33.000 1.99 54 2.00 Co-current
17 55.3 62.4 15.4 23.0 33.000 2.00 54 2.00 Co-current
18 54.9 62.0 15.4 23.1 33.000 2.01 54 1.98 Co-current
19 56.2 63.4 15.4 23.3 33.000 2.03 54 2.01 Co-current
EXPERIMENTS 71
Calculations:
Average values of the quantities:
Cold flow Hot flow

Mode T1(C) T2(C) T3(C) T4(C) (lit/min) (lit/min)
Countercurrent 60.97 49.4 15.4 19.16 0.99 3.01

Co-current 55.25 62.39 15.4 23.0 2.01 2.02
DThot and DTcold in both the modes:
Modes - > Countercurrent Co-current
DThot -> T1 T2 = 11.56 T2 T1 =7.13

DTcold -> T4 T3 = 3.68 T4 T3 = 7.615
Result:
This experiment demonstrates that using a simple heat exchanger, a stream
of cold fluid can be heated by indirect contact with another fluid stream
at a higher temperature (the fluid streams being separated by a wall that
conducts heat). This transfer of heat results in a cooling of the hot fluid.
5.3.2EXPERIMENT 2: ENERGY BALANCE ACROSS A SHELL

AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
5.3.2.1Objective
To perform an energy balance across a shell and tube heat exchanger and
to calculate the overall efficiency at different fluid flow rates.
5.3.2.2Method
By measuring the changes in temperature of the two separate fluid streams

in a shell and tube heat exchanger and calculating the heat energy trans-
ferred to/from each stream to determine the overall efficiency.
5.3.2.3 Equipment Required
HT30XC Heat Exchanger Service Unit

HT33 Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
EXPERIMENTS 73
5.3.2.4Procedure
5.3.2.4.1Operational Procedures
1. Enter the temperature controller screen and set the set point to 60C
and mode to automatic.
2. Adjust the cold water flow control (not the pressure regulator) to
give 1 L/min and the hot water flow control to give 3 L/min.
3. Allow the heat exchanger to stabilize (use the IFD Channel History
screen to monitor the temperatures).
4. When the temperatures are stable, take a sample
5. Adjust the cold water flow control to give 2 L/min. Allow the heat
exchanger to stabilize then take another sample.
5.3.2.5 Results and Calculations
Each set of readings is presented in the table.

The columns we are interested in are as follows:
Mass flow rate (hot fluid) qmh (kg/s)
Mass flow rate (cold fluid) qmc (kg/s)
Heat power emitted Qe (W)
Heat power absorbed Qa (W)
Heat power lost Qf (W)
Overall efficiency h (%)
You should also estimate and record the experimental errors for these mea-
surements. Estimate the cumulative influence of the experimental errors
on your calculated values for Qe, Qa, Qf, and h.
Compare the heat power emitted from/absorbed by the two fluid
streams at the different flow rates.
Heat power:
(Q) = Mass flow rate (qm) specific heat (Cp) change in
temperature (DT) (W)
Therefore, heat power emitted from hot fluid:
Qe = qmhot Cphot(T1-T2)
qmhot = 0.017
Cp = 4.182
DT = 11.56
Qe = 0.017 4.182 11.56 = 0.82184664
Heat power absorbed by cold fluid:
Qa = qmcold Cpcold(T4-T3)
qmcold = 0.050
Cpcold = 4.182
DTcold = 3.68
Qa = 0.050 4.182 3.68 = 0.769488
Heat power lost (or gained):
Qf = Qe - Qa (W)
Qf = 0.05235864
Overall efficiency:
h = (Qa/Qe)100
= 93.63
5.3.2.6Conclusions
Theoretically Qe and Qa should be equal. In practice, these differ due to

heat losses or gains to/from the environment. In our case Qe value is more
than that of Qa. This is because of the heat losses to the environment. As
the cold fluid flow rate increases, the rate of heat energy lost to the cold
water will increase.
5.3.3EXPERIMENT 3: TEMPERATURE EFFICIENCIES AND

TEMPERATURE PROFILES OF COUNTERCURRENT
AND CO-CURRENT MODE OF OPERATION
5.3.3.1Objective
To demonstrate the differences between co-current flow (flows in same

direction) and countercurrent flow (flows in the opposite direction) and the
effect on the heat transferred, temperature efficiencies, and temperature
profiles through a shell and tube heat exchanger.
5.3.3.2Method
By measuring the temperatures of the two fluid streams and using the tem-
perature changes and differences to calculate the heat energy transferred
and the temperature efficiencies.
5.3.3.3 Equipment Required
HT30XC Heat Exchanger Service Unit

HT33 Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
EXPERIMENTS 75
5.3.3.4Theory/Background
5.3.3.4.1 Countercurrent Operation
Figure 5.1 shows the concurrent operation flow directions of hot and cold
water. When the heat exchanger is connected for countercurrent operation,
the hot and cold fluid streams flow in opposite directions across the heat
transfer surface (the two fluid streams enter the heat exchanger at opposite
ends). The hot fluid passes through the seven tubes in parallel, the cold fluid
passes across the tubes three times, directed by the baffles inside the shell.
5.3.3.4.2 Co-current Operation
When the heat exchanger is connected for co-current operation, the hot
and cold fluid streams flow in the same direction across the heat transfer
surface (the two fluid streams enter the heat exchanger at the same end).
Figure 5.1. Concurrent operation flow directions.
Figure 5.2. Co-current operation flow directions.

5.3.3.5Procedure
5.3.3.5.1 Operational Procedures
4. When the temperatures are stable, take a sample.
5. Repeat the experiment using co-current flow.
5.3.3.6 Results and Calculations

Note: In co-current flow T3 is the cold fluid outlet temperature and T4
is the cold fluid inlet temperature.
The columns we are interested in are as follows:
Reduction in hot fluid temperature DThot (C)
Increase in cold fluid temperature DTcold (C)
Heat power emitted from hot fluid Qe (W)
Temperature efficiency for hot fluid Hh(%)
Temperature efficiency for cold fluid Hc (%)
Mean temperature efficiency Hm (%)
You should also estimate and record the experimental errors for these
measurements. Estimate the cumulative influence of the experimental
errors on your calculated values for each of the preceding temperature
differences and efficiencies.
5.3.3.6.1 Countercurrent Temperature Profile
From the previous exercises, the reduction in hot fluid temperature:

DThot = T1 T2 = 11.6
Increase in cold fluid temperature:
DTcold = T4 T3 = 3.7
Heat power emitted from hot fluid:
Qe = qmhot Cphot DThot
Qe = 0.017 4.182 11.6
Qe = 0.8246904
EXPERIMENTS 77
A useful measure of the heat exchanger performance is the temperature effi-

ciency of each fluid stream. The temperature change in each fluid stream is
compared with the maximum temperature difference between the two fluid
streams giving a comparison with an exchanger of infinite size.
Temperature efficiency for hot fluid:
Hh = (T1T2/T1T3) 100
Hh = (11.6/45.5)100 = 25.49(%)
Temperature efficiency for cold fluid:
Hc = (T4T3/T1T3) 100
Hc = (3.7/45.5) 100 = 8.13 (%)
Mean temperature efficiency:
Hm = (Hh+Hc) /2
= (25.49+8.13)/2= 16.81 (%)
5.3.3.6.2 Co-current Temperature Profile
From the previous exercises, the reduction in hot fluid temperature:

DThot = T1 T2 = 7.1
Increase in cold fluid temperature:
DTcold = T3 T4 = 7.6
Heat power emitted from hot fluid:
Qe = qmhot Cphot | DThot |
= 0.033 4.184 7.2
= 0.9941184
Temperature efficiency for hot fluid:
Hh = (T1T2/T1T4) 100
= (7.2/32.2 )100
= 22.36 (%)
Temperature efficiency for cold fluid:
Hc = (T3T4/T1T4) 100
= (7.615/32.2)100
= 23.64 (%)
Mean temperature efficiency:
Hm = (Hh+Hc)/2
= 23(%)
5.3.3.7 Conclusions
From the mean temperature efficiencies calculated in both cases, it looks like
the co-current mode was better than the countercurrent mode of o peration in
this particular case. However, the selection of the best arrangement for a par-
ticular application depends on many parameters such as overall heat transfer
coefficient, logarithmic mean temperature difference, fluid flow rate, and so
forth. These will be explained and investigated in later exercises.
DThot DTcold
Countercurrent 11.6 3.7

Co-current 7.1 7.6
As can be seen from the preceding table, DThot in the case of the counter-
current mode of operation is more than that of the co-current mode. How-
ever, the DTcold value is less in case of the countercurrent as compared to
its value in case of the co-current mode.
As can be seen from the preceding calculations, in the case of counter-
current mode of operation, hot fluid temperature efficiency is better than
that of cold fluid temperature efficiency. But in the case of the co-current
mode, both are almost equal.
5.3.4 EXPERIMENT 4: PID CONTROL OF THE HEATER
Aim: To observe the improved system response due to PID control, as

compared to the response of the system with simple comparator control.
Two different approaches to this experiment:
1. Approach a: We changed the PID values as per Table 0.3 given in

the assignment.
2. Approach b:
i. We measured the period of the oscillations Pu (in minutes). We
knew the value of Gu (current value of P).
ii. Then using the ultimate cycle methods formulae, we continued
tuning the PID parameters until we obtained a smoother system
response with an average error = <0.5%. The formulae are as
shown in the following text.
Table 0.3. Formulae to calculate the P, I, and D parameters in the experiment
Control Law Formulae for P Formulae for I Formulae for D
P 0.5 Gu
PI 0.45 Gu 1.2/Pu
PID 0.6 Gu 2/Pu Pu/8
EXPERIMENTS 79
Graphs:
Figure 5.3 provides a graph of the controlled temperature variable (T1).
Result:
Control Average error in steady state
Comparator control 1.2%

PID control 0.17%
T1..
39
37
Temperature (Degree Celcius)
35
33
31
29
27
25
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Time (Seconds)
Figure 5.3. System response (temperature [T1] versus time).
P
700
600
500
Parameter P
400 P
300
200
100
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Time (Seconds)
Figure 5.4. Parameter P versus time.

Table of Readings
Hot water Cold water Divide the Time

flow rate flow rate PID output period
Sample No. T1 (C) T2 (C) T3 (C) T4 (C) (L/min) (L/min) P I D dt (s) by (s)
2599 32.1 29.4 7.86 11.79 3 1.94 35 0.4 0 1 7 15

2600 32.23 29.53 7.86 11.83 3 1.94 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2601 32.19 29.63 7.86 11.76 3 1.94 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2602 32.19 29.63 7.8 11.83 3.01 1.95 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2603 32.19 29.63 7.86 11.86 2.98 1.95 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2604 32.16 29.66 7.86 11.79 3 1.92 35 0.4 0 1 7 15

2605 32.16 29.63 7.86 11.89 3.02 1.94 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2606 32.16 29.63 7.96 11.83 3 1.94 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2607 31.97 29.53 7.86 11.92 2.99 1.92 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2608 31.93 29.47 7.86 11.86 3 1.97 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2609 31.97 29.47 7.86 11.89 3.01 1.97 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2610 31.87 29.43 7.86 11.79 3 1.93 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2611 31.84 29.34 7.86 11.89 3 1.97 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2612 31.87 29.34 7.83 11.79 3 1.98 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2613 31.9 29.37 7.86 11.83 3 1.93 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2614 31.9 29.34 7.86 11.76 2.99 1.93 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2615 32.03 29.37 7.86 11.79 3 2.03 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2616 32.1 29.5 7.86 11.79 3.03 2.03 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2617 32.16 29.56 7.86 11.79 3.01 2.03 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2618 32.19 29.6 7.86 11.79 2.98 2.04 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2619 32.16 29.6 7.83 11.79 2.99 2.05 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2620 32.13 29.6 7.86 11.7 3.01 2.03 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2621 32 29.5 7.83 11.73 2.99 2.01 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2622 32 29.47 7.86 11.76 2.99 2.07 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
2623 31.97 29.47 7.86 11.7 2.99 2.08 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
Average 32.055 29.508 7.858 11.806 2.9996 1.9796 35 0.4 0 1 7 15
Note: It is not feasible to include all the 2932 readings in the report. Hence, we have included only that part of the readings where
the system achieved stability and relatively better response (i.e., response with least average error). However you can see all the data
points on the graphs.
EXPERIMENTS 81
I
2
1.5
I
Parameter I
0.5
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
0.5
Time (Seconds)
Figure 5.5. Parameter I versus time
D
0.5
0.4
0.3 D
Parameter D
0.2
0.1
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
0.1
Time (Seconds)
Figure 5.6. Parameter D versus time.
From the preceding table, it can be seen that the system response was
better due to PID control, as compared to the response of the system with
simple comparator control.
5.3.4.1Feedback from the Students and Lab Assistants

Observations
This section includes a report submitted by the lab assistant on his own
observation of students during the experiment. In the following report I
refers to the lab assistant.
EXPERIMENTS 83
Report on heat exchanger virtual lab Session 1 held on October 23,

2007, between 8.20 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. at Engineering Technology.
Students who attended virtual lab Session 1:
1. Richard Faber
2. Craig
3. Jason
4. Maggie
I noted the following things as the students performed their experiment in

the virtual lab session:
Richard
Richard started at 8.26 a.m. and he was done by 8.52 a.m.
1. Richard read the instructions page, but he tended to follow instruc-

tions given in the assignment. So we have to update assignments
with the instructions.
2. He was searching for the controls on the VI.
3. I have to decompose the instructions further to make them abso-
lutely stepwise.
4. I have to make students aware about the novel way of taking readings.
5. Also, I have to tell them about the vertical and horizontal scroll bars
that get hidden.
6. After taking the readings Richard forgot to release the control. So I
will have to make some arrangement to take care of that.
7. It was difficult to find the Download file hyperlink at the bottom of
the page, because instructions to which page they should download
the reading file from were not clear. Also the link is almost hidden
at the bottom of the page.
8. When Richard gained control the second time, suddenly the VI did
not show all the things inside. The solution to this problem was
that he had to release the control, refresh the page, and request the
control once again.
Craig
Craig performed the experiment between 8.55 a.m. and 9.15 a.m.
1. Setting the hot water flow rate can be made easier. I have to think
about it.
2. Reduce the three digits of accuracy to two digits.
3. Craig faced trouble setting the inputs due to the i/p o/p difference
error. The solution can be reduced from three decimal digits of
accuracy to one digit.
Jason
1. He faced trouble accessing the VI because by the time he took over,
the wireless Internet signal was too low to access any web page.
Hence he used wired Internet to access the lab.
2. During his turn, I noted that nobody had bothered to wait until the
temperature reached 60C before they could start recording the
readings.
3. So I had Richard and Jason repeat the experiment and take the read-
ings at temperature T1 = 60C.
Overall conclusion drawn from a chat with Richard, Craig, and
Jasonafter the session
1. Richard seemed happy with the so-called toy.
2. Craig said, It was not a bad experience though. I perceive his
statement as It was OK.
3. Jason faced lot of troubles while doing the experiment. He said that
he was not that computer savvy. But I think when he repeated the
experiment; he was pretty good with it.
4. I do not know about Maggie. She finished the experiment in a jiffy
and left before I could see her perform the experiment.
5. I have to improve the control accuracy for the hot and cold flow
rates. Also a control over temperature needs to be improved.
5.3.4.2 A
reas of Improvement Identified From the Students
Feedback
1. More accuracy in hot and cold flow controls needed irrespective of

any nonlinearity involved.
2. More accuracy and sustainability in the temperature control needed
irrespective of the tap water temperature variation.
3. Improvement in the instructions sheet expected.
5.3.4.3 Solutions Implemented for the Above Problems
1. The first two problems were cured by introducing the PID control
technique. The initial P, I, and D parameter values were found using
the ultimate cycle method. Then the parameters were tuned to
give least possible error. The method is explained in the How did I
arrive at the PID parameters values? section of the report.
EXPERIMENTS 85
2. In the case of a second problem, I talked with every batch about the
instruction sheet. I refined the instructions iteratively after every
session of the PID lab depending on the students feedback.
3. I also added a visual aid feature in the LabVIEW interface. This fea-
ture lets the student select the color for temperature nodes (T1, T2,
T3, T4) on the schematic dynamically during the experiment. The
selected color automatically gets applied to the respective graphs
of the temperature nodes. This change in the graphs color makes
it easier for the student to identify which graph in the temperature
chart corresponds to which temperature node.
5.3.5FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS ABOUT THE PID

EXPERIMENT
This experiment was developed after the suggestions of the students from
the first experiment was implemented. This resulted in a better feedback
from the students for this experiment.
Feedback from lab assistant: The lab assistant noted that approach b
is better than approach a used for this experiment. Since in approach
a, the automated VI takes care of all the inputs automatically, the stu-
dent simply sits back and observes the response of the system as the input
parameters are changed automatically. This approach rids the student of all
the other activities like calculation of P, I, D parameters, thus letting him/
her fully concentrate on observing how the system behaves for different P,
I, D values. But it was found that students preferred active involvement in
the experiment rather than just sitting and watching the system response.
CHAPTER 6
Factors Influencing
the Virtual Lab
This chapter discusses cross-cutting concerns of Virtual Laboratory,

such as drivers, concurrent access, and user authentication.
6.1 DRIVERS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DEVICES
Software drivers for programmable devices are at the lowest level of the
Virtual Lab system. Depending on the type of programmable devices, they
directly access the hardware or use the manufacturers software librar-
ies for accessing hardware. They are designed for efficiency and reuse,
as every experiment must use one or more programmable devices. Every
programmable device is represented by one class or hierarchy of classes.
The structure of the device determines the corresponding structure of
classes that represent the programming model for each type of program-
mable device. The top class represents common features of the instrument,
while the descendent classes that inherit the top class correspond to logical
or physical parts of the device. Setting the devices and functional proper-
ties of devices are modeled as class methods, which are accessed by call-
ing corresponding methods of instantiated classes. Programmable devices
that are used in the prototype system consist of a data acquisition system
(DAS). It has four standard sections:
Analog digital (A/D) section with 8/16 differential/single ended

inputs, 12 bit resolution, with programmable gain amplifier (PGA).
A/D is used for direct voltage measurements in experiment circuits
and can be also used for indirect measurement of non-electrical
quantities by using the appropriate converters with standard volt-
age output. The measurement of electrical current with A/D is also
possible, but by indirectly measuring the voltage on a resistor with

known value.
Digital analog (D/A) section with two channel voltage/current out-
puts, 12 bit resolution. D/A can be used for the generation of nec-
essary voltages and currents in experiments for two basic purposes.
One purpose is to provide necessary conditions for experiment
performance. Depending on the particular experiment, voltages/
currents can be constant acting as parameters, or changing when
it is important to measure and show the functional dependence
between observed values, with generated voltage as independent
variable. The other purpose is to control some experimental equip-
ment that is not programmable, but that can be managed by using
voltage or current signal.
Digital input/output (DIO) section with four digital 8 bit I/O ports.
Each port can be programmed either as input or output. When act-
ing as output, it can be used similar to the D/A section for con-
trolling equipment.
Programmatic access to DAS is possible using software drivers,
and specialized software such as National Instruments LabVIEW,
Visual Designer. A direct access from program to registers in mem-
ory map is also possible. Registers control the behavior, determine
the status of DAS, and contain the measured values. Programming
with registers is actually used in the Virtual Lab system.
6.2CONCURRENT REQUIREMENTS FOR

SAME EXPERIMENT
As the Virtual Lab system is designed to be used by many independent

users, it is quite possible that two users try to start the same experi-
ment simultaneously, or try to start the experiment while it is already in
processstarted by some other user. In the case of basic configuration
described here, there is physically only one set of programmable devices
for each experiment. Depending on the type of programmable device, it
may be possible to use the same device simultaneously for different pur-
poses. The word simultaneously means, of course, parallel tasks that are
executed on multitasking operating system.
In this implementation, simultaneous access to the same experiment
is not allowed, while simultaneous access to different experiments is
allowed, provided that they do not use the same hardware components.
It is achieved on the side of web server, by using application variables.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE VIRTUAL LAB 89
Application variables keep the current state of each experiment, and in

each user session the value of application variables is examined. Depend-
ing on the state of experiment, the user can start the experiment if it is not
already started, or get the message that the experiment is in process, and
to try later.
6.3USER AUTHENTICATION
Currently the experiment does not need any login. We do not see any need
of the authentication process presently because there are only a handful
of students who are accessing the experiment that too only during their
lab session, when the lab assistant is available in the lab. In short, there
is nothing much on the site other than the LabVIEW VI that is vulnera-
ble to attacks. Here we are assuming that no hacker would like to prove
himself by hacking an academic site, which has absolutely no material of
general interest, but the heat exchanger experiment specific information.
However, in the future, if need arise, the user authentication protocol can
easily be incorporated.
6.4ISSUES SURROUNDING LIVE TRAINING
6.4.1 DEDICATED CLASSES
Besides the general methods and tools for delivering training discussed
already, it is important to consider when live training can address the chal-
lenges of delivering complex content, and when live training falls short.
Dedicated classes, consisting of hands-on instruction taught in phys-
ical classrooms, are effective but not scalable to reach a large number
of learners. They also are extremely expensive, particularly when limited
resources (equipment and instructors) must be sent into the field. Dedi-
cated classes may require any or all of the following:
Provisioning, configuration, and validation of equipment and soft-

ware (not to mention the purchase expense)
Provisioning of trainers
Travel (trainers and sometimes learners)
Technical support to ensure everything works
Teardown, packing, and shippingand perhaps travel on to the
next live site destination.
6.4.2 VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS
Virtual classroom is a highly effective and more scalable approach to

reach a larger number of students than is live, bricks and mortar training.
But even virtual classrooms sometimes have their limitations, in terms of
best types of training content delivered, instructor student communica-
tions, effective automated processes for scheduling, and management of
learning objectives. It can be challenging for an instructor using a web
conferencing tool to be absolutely certain his students are getting it,
even with polling and testing capabilities commonly found in some of the
e-Learning tools. Similarly, a virtual classroom is still a remnant of the
model whereby the instructor does and the students watch. Archiving
content to make it available for later viewing, while a key aspect of reach-
ing students anytime and anyplace, does not guarantee that the instructor
will ever see what the learner learned. Similarly, a web-based lab is fine
for reaching a large number of learners, but in no way can it be described
as immersive or compellingnor do they offer sufficient measurements
to enable tracking of student progress. They typically rely on a learner
learning by observation.
6.4.3COURSEWARE
Delivery of authored courseware via CDs or DVDs can be most effective

at reaching a large number of learnersbut like asynchronous libraries,
there is little method of ensuring that the learners learn and little ability to
adapt the training if conditions change. Using these media can be effective
to deliver rich media-based training (such as animations, videos, and simu-
lations) but can be extremely expensive to produce, deliver, and maintain.
And they often overlook the value of the live instructor; theres nothing
wrong with self-paced materials, but they place the onus for learning on the
student without backup of management or measurements. They rely on a
student learning by reading, watching, or simulating the experience.
Lower down the content spectrum is very broadly used: popular
tools such as PowerPoint slide shows, Flash demos, and video clips that
demonstrate activities. These often are provided as standalone, passive
training modules and often provide no means of measurement. This is
not to dismiss as invalid the tools under discussion here. But content and
courseware are not an effective substitute for context and competency. All
too often training organizations spend great efforts at creating the content,
and all too often they fail to deliver it in such a way as to guarantee that
competency-based learningwhich is required to build and maintain soft-

ware expertisehas taken place.
6.4.4 LEARNING GAP
After considering the tools and methodologies and the business issues
surrounding technical training, the final item to consider is the learner
himself. Consider the typical cell phone user. He may or may not read the
manual(s) that come with the new model cell phone. But he will acknowl-
edge that without actually beginning to use the cell phone, he would never
claim to be proficient. One must place calls to learn to use a new phone.
And the same applies to virtually any technology in modern life, from
microwaves to VCRs. We learn by doing. And nothing is more critical
than in the area of technical training, which carries with it so many depen-
dencies and complexities. In many respects the near hands-on aspect of
simulations comes closest to providing the immersion necessary to learn
new technologies. But simulations, while fine for some purposes, lack one
thing: a compelling and personalized experience that gets built based on
the learners state of interaction with the learning objects. A newer form
of technology, with a valuable underlying pedagogical approach to back
it up, has only recently begun to be noticed in e-Learning and training cir-
cles. It is still in its infancy but is already being used successfully by early
adopters in the field of technical training, and it is called Virtual Labs.
6.5SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
The Virtual Lab system can be useful and used by many categories of
users ranging from regular students at various levels of education sys-
tem, to remote users that relay especially on remote access to education
materials. Virtual Lab could be used as an addition to regular laboratory
exercises, or if significantly developed as replacement of part or all exer-
cises in particular subjects. It can also be used as part of the educational
process not just for remote access to experiments, but as a system to be
studied from various aspectsweb server programming, software exper-
iment management, management of programmable devices, network con-
nections of PCs that constitute the Virtual Lab system, and so forth. This
approach can lead to further system development by advanced students as
part of their seminal, graduate, or postgraduate activities, exams or some
other kinds of engagement. Finally, this system does not have to be used
only for educational purposes, as its structure is general enough to be used

in other areas also, such as for monitoring and control of remote systems,
or for control and management of some other kind of experiments in real
research.
The use of the system can be for educational purposes, but also for
some real-life tasks such as monitoring and control of remote systems or
for experiments in scientific research. There are two main strategies to
increase the number of experiments controlled by Virtual Lab. One is to
increase the number of programmable devices I/O for measurement and
control, which will enable more experiments to be performed, as the I/O
is devoted only to one experiment. The other is to use existing I/O for
measurements and control and to introduce switching circuits that will use
existing I/O for more than one experiment. That approach also requires
increasing the number of I/O for the management of switching circuits.
In both approaches, it is necessary to install new PC cards with program-
mable devices. As each PC can support just a finite number of expansion
slots, the introduction of new PCs might be necessary. However, adding
new PCs for the control of programmable equipment is very easy in dis-
tributed configuration. It is necessary to connect new PCs on the network
and to add software for programmable devices and new experiment.
6.6FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Experiment management system: Rather than implementing a sep-

arate user authentication process, we can use the University of
Toledos login. We can also have a database of the students that will
store the student credentials, his/her experiment results, feedback,
and so forth. Thus, we can create a report at the end of the semester
to review the overall online experiment experience of students.
User authentication: Currently since the users (students) of the
existing system are limited, having an authentication process is
not pragmatic, for the sole reason that there is no need of secrecy,
nothing much that anybody would want to steal or hack. However,
in the future as the number of users increases, the authentication
process may become necessary. However, it would be nice to use
the existing university logins rather than making the students create
a separate login, which they will use only once in a semester.
Chatserver: Chat functionality can be included on the same web
page as that of the experiment.
Network of virtual labs: If we make our system robust enough, we
can join other virtual lab projects in other universities to weave a

network of virtual labs.
Telephone controlled equipment: As we know, the online lab consists
of two things, namely, the LabVIEW VI and the heat exchanger
equipment. Of these, the LabVIEW VI is available online 247,
however, the actual heat exchanger equipment is not,simply
because we do not want to leave the equipment switched on for-
ever. Hence, currently it takes a person to hook up the USB cable
to the equipment and turn its switch on in order for the equipment
to come to life, before any experiment can be performed. We can
obviate the need of a persons presence for this job by making use
of a telephone controlled switch. Then that person can turn the
equipment on or off from a distance, whenever a student demands
access and schedules a time slot for the experiment.
Simulation: Since allowing a student to play with the actual system
in a random manner is not feasible, a simulator can be designed to
give a virtual idea to the student about the system. By simulating
the real system, the student will get an excellent grasp of the real
operation of the system. That way they will have a better idea about
what to expect as an output of the experiment that they will per-
form on the real equipment over the Internet. Thereby, we let the
student verify the simulated output with the real-time output, which
indeed is an excellent way to reinforce concepts (of PID or) from
the course.
CHAPTER 7
Experiment Instructions
This section includes the instructions to be used to perform the experi-

ments mentioned in this document.
7.1INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SHELL AND TUBE

HEAT EXCHANGER EXPERIMENT
Objective: To demonstrate indirect heating or cooling by transfer of heat

from one fluid stream to another when separated by a solid wall (fluid to
fluid heat transfer).
Equipment required: HT30XC Heat Exchanger Service Unit, HT33
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger.
Theory/background: Any temperature difference across the metal plates
will result in the transfer of heat between the two fluid streams. The hot
water flowing through the inner tube bundle will be cooled and the cold
water flowing through the outer shell will be heated.
Note: For this demonstration the heat exchanger is configured with
the two streams flowing in opposite directions (countercurrent flow). The
cold fluid flowing through the shell is forced to flow over and under baffles
in the shell that force the fluid to flow across the tube bundle to improve
the heat exchange.
Operational Procedures
4. When the temperatures are stable take a sample.

5. Adjust the cold water flow control to give 2 L/min. Allow the heat
exchanger to stabilize then take another sample.
Results and Calculations

The columns we are interested in are the reduction in hot fluid
temperature:
DThot = T2 T1 (C)
And the increase in cold fluid temperature:
DTcold = T4 T3 (C)
Estimate and record the experimental errors for these measurements.
Estimate the cumulative influence of the experimental errors on your
calculated values for DThot and DTcold.
Compare the changes in temperature at the different flow rates. If time
permits try different combinations of hot and cold fluid flow rate.
Conclusions: You have demonstrated how, using a simple heat exchanger,
a stream of cold fluid can be heated by indirect contact with another fluid
stream at a higher temperature (the fluid streams being separated by a wall
that conducts heat). This transfer of heat results in a cooling of the hot
fluid. Comment on the changes in DThot and DTcold when the flow of
cold water is increased. The consequence of these changes will be inves-
tigated in a later exercise.
7.2INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PID CONTROL FOR

HEATER EXPERIMENT
Aim: To observe the improved system response due to PID control, as

compared to the response of the system with simple comparator control.
Apparatus: Armfields heat exchanger equipment, LabVIEW control
interface, or Armfields control interface, USB cable.
Instructions:
(The following first four instructions are for the LabVIEW interface
user [mostly the lab assistant.])
(Note: If you are accessing the experiment over the Internet, simply
right click on the VI that appears in the browser after you access the experi-
ment and Request Control of the VI. When a message Control Granted
appears, follow from the fifth instruction given in the following text.)
1. Plug the USB cable in the Armfields heat exchanger unit and turn
on the switch of the unit.
EXPERIMENT INSTRUCTIONS 97
2. Turn the Lab Computer on.

3. Run LabVIEW.
4. Open the VI named Heatexchanger_with_PID.vi from the
recently opened VIs.
5. Go to the Pre-lab Instructions tab on the VI and read the instruc-
tions carefully.
6. Go to the Controls tab. Observe and understand the schematic
picture of heat exchanger shown in here.
7. Run the VI using the Run button. When the VI is run, the Hot
water level indicator will illuminate.
8. Ensure that the hot water level indicator is green. A red light indi-
cates that the water level is low in the heater tank. Please ask the lab
assistant to fill the water in the tank.
9. Before turning on the Power switch on the VI, set the mode of opera-
tion as required (Concurrent: hot and cold water flowing in same direc-
tion. Countercurrent: hot and cold water flowing in opposite direction).
10. Also select control as PID control on the VI.
11. In the PID gains Box, input the following parameters:
a. Output high = 100
b. Output low = 0
c. Dt (s) = 1
d. Divide the output by = 7
12. In the Parameters Input Box, input the following parameters and
then notice the corresponding three graphs, shown in the VI, rise up
to the value that was set earlier:
a. Hot water flow rate: 3 L/min
b. Cold water flow rate: 2 L/min
c. Temperature set point: 32C
13. Now, turn on the Power switch on the VI. A green LED on the
switch will glow, which indicates that the heat exchangers internal
relay is on and the unit is ready to be used.
14. Now go to the Readings tab and hit the Record Data button.
Record all the readings throughout the experiment. Stop recording
the data only at the end of the experiment.
15. Once the temperature reaches almost the set point value, the heater
indicator will start going on and off more frequently. The tempera-
ture graph will oscillate about the set point value. When the exper-
iment reaches this state, wait for five cycles.
16. Now there are two approaches to this particular step:
a. Follow the PID values mentioned in Table 7.1: Change the PID
parameters as given in Table 7.1. After changing the parameters,
observe the response for 1 min and comment on the systems

response to the newly entered PID values.
b. Use your own values during the experiment: Use the first four
sets of PID values from Table 7.1 to begin with. Then use the
ultimate cycle methods formulae to arrive at the optimized PID
parameter values. Find the ultimate cycle method explained in
any of the Control Systems Theory book (or ask the TA about it
during the experiment).
17. Notice that the temperature fluctuations should reduce eventually
as the PID parameters are tuned and the response should become
smoother over time, with less over or undershoots. This suggests
that the steady-state error is reducing. Thus, we have a better con-
trol over the temperature of the hot water at the end of the experi-
ment.
18. Note down the observations for each set of PID parameters. Com-
ment on how sensitive the system response was to the D param-
eter in Table 7.1, if following approach a. Also include Table 7.1
in the report. If following approach b, prepare a table similar to
Table 7.1.
19. Once better control is achieved, measure the relative average per-
centage error. (Note: % Error <= 0.5%.)
20. At the end of the experiment, just to appreciate the better control
achieved using PID, switch the mode of control to Comparator
control and compare the response. Notice that the average error has
increased. Measure the average error as percentage of setpoint tem-
perature for this case.
Table 7.1. PID values for approach a in step 16
Seq. # P I D
1 560 0 0
2 280 1.71 0.14
3 560 0 0
4 280 0 0
5 140 0 0
6 70 0 0
7 35 1.44 0
8 35 0.72 0
9 17 0.8 0.001
Temperature (degree Celcius)
61.5
61
60.5
60
59.5
Temperature (Celcius)
59
58.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Time (Seconds)
Figure 7.1. Sustained oscillations in the system response.

Temperature (degree Celcius)
99
94
89
84
79
74
Temperature (Celcius)
69
64
59
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Time (Seconds)
Figure 7.2. Unbounded output of the system.

Please answer the following questions after the PID experiment.
1. What is a Good Control from your perspective with respect to the

experiment?
2. After using the comparator control and PID control during the
experiment, which one do you think is a better control method?
Why do you think so?
3. What is the full form of PID?
4. Explain in your own words how P, I, and D individually contrib-
ute to make our system behave better as compared to the systems
behavior with a simple comparator control.
5. Solve the following problem using the method you used during the
experiment.
You are assigned a task of finding out the PID parameters for the newly
brought heat exchanger system in the lab. You decide to use the ultimate
cycle method. Let us say for the initial PID values of P = 50, I = 0, D = 0,
the heat exchanger is behaving as shown in Figure 7.1. The temperature
setpoint is 60C. What will you change and by how much as the first step
toward the tuning of PID parameters?
After you made the change in the PID parameters, you got the follow-
ing response (Figure 7.2). Is the system stable? Why? Which parameters
would you change and by how much such that the system regains its sta-
bility? Give reasons for your decision.
CHAPTER 8
Related Work
There are a small number of past and ongoing activities to create and
establish online lab facilities. This book presents a new model for inter-
active virtual laboratory experiments based on LabVIEW. Based on this
model, we designed a generic software framework for laboratory instruc-
tion over the Internet. We implemented and deployed this framework
for a thermodynamics lab. Our results show that this framework can
enable more students to be exposed to a comprehensive laboratory expe-
rience and increases the involvement of the teaching staff in laboratory
instruction.
Dr. Clark K. Colton, a professor from the department of Chemical
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coined the term
iLabs, referring to their interdepartmental online lab collaborations using
VPN. Another prominent example is EGEE, providing a grid infrastruc-
ture to distribute and process the vast amount of data resulting from
experiments in the large hadron collider at CERN. The U.K. e-Science
Program features a working group (Instruments on the Grid) address-
ing, for example, the integration of X-ray crystallography or sensors for
urban pollution into the grid. During iGrid 2005, the transparent operation
of a biology experiment on a test-bed of globally distributed visualiza-
tion, storage, computational, and network resources was demonstrated.
The environment was based on the distributed virtual computer. How-
ever, these approaches have a number of different drawbacks: They tend
to be either too focused with respect to the targeted instruments, or do
not address interactive steering of instruments, or are part of a dedicated
demo environment where the environment set-up making the laboratory
equipment available is mostly performed manually by the participating
researchers. A more generic approach, driven by an initiative supported
by the U.S. National Science Foundation, led to the definition of the Com-
mon Instrument Middleware Architecture (CIMA). CIMA is targeting
on developing a web-service-based middleware stack allowing treating

arbitrary instruments as grid resources. Current related projects are X-ray
crystallography and the automated observatory. CIMA could become a
generic interface to instruments and we will evaluate this stack once it
becomes available.
Bibliography
BOOKS:
Travis, J., and J. Kring. LabVIEW For Everyone. Stephanopoulos, G. 1984. Chem-
ical Process Control: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. New York, NY:
Prentice Hall.
WEBSITES:
NI Developer zone at http://www.ni.com

http://heatex.mit.edu/
About the Authors
Ella Fridman, PhD was assistant professor and graduate program director
at University of Toledo until 2008 when she died in a car accident. She
started as junior scientist at the Institute of Thermophysics of the Ukrainian
Academy of Science. In 1989 Ella Fridman became a PhD in Mechanical
Engineering and continued to work in the same Institute as senior scien-
tists up to 1990 when she immigrated to the United States.
Harshad Mahajan, MS, graduated from University of Toledo. He worked

as a software development specialist at Dox Systems LLC for three years
before moving back to India. In India, he did freelancing and online tutor-
ing. He has also worked with esteemed organizations like J.P. Morgan Chase
and L&T Infotech. He presently works as a Java a pplication developer in
Mumbai and can be reached via email at mahajan.harshad@gmail.com.
Index
A Data acquisition (DAQ) systems

ADC. See Analog to digital communication with, 3435
converter components, 33
A/D section. See Analog digital general purpose interface bus
section (GPIB), 3536
Analog digital (A/D) section, Universal serial bus (USB),
8788 3637
Analog to digital converter virtual instrumentation, 3334
(ADC), 34 Digital analog (D/A) section, 88
Armfield Heat Exchanger service Digital input/output (DIO)
unit, 40. See also HT30XC section, 88
service unit, customer- DIO section. See Digital input/
generated software output section
B E
Block Diagram, 1920, 5860 Experiments
instructions, 95101
C Internet, 6769
Call Library Function VI, 45, LabVIEW interface, 67
46, 47 results, 6985
CIMA. See Common Instrument
Middleware Architecture F
Co-current flow, 7478 Factors influencing, Virtual Lab
Common Instrument Middleware chatserver, 92
Architecture (CIMA), concurrent requirements, 8889
103104 courseware, 9091
Controls sub-palettes, 22 dedicated classes, 89
experiment management
D system, 92
DAQ systems. See Data learning gap, 91
acquisition (DAQ) systems network of virtual labs, 9293
D/A section. See Digital analog programmable devices, 8788
section simulation, 93
110 Index
system management and ISAPI. See Information server

development, 9192 application information
telephone controlled equipment, interface
93
user authentication, 89, 92 J
virtual classrooms, 90 Java Native Interface (JNI), 17
Java virtual machine (JVM), 3,
G 11, 12
General purpose interface bus JNI. See Java Native Interface
(GPIB), 3536 JVM. See Java virtual machine
G-language, 1617
GPIB. See General purpose L
interface bus LabVIEW
Graphical user interface (GUI), 7 Block Diagram, 1920
GUI. See Graphical user interface Controls Palette, 21, 22, 23
data acquisition with, 3237
H experiments, 6785
Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus Front Panel, 1719
(HP-IB), 35 Functions Palette, 21, 24, 25
HP-IB. See Hewlett-Packard G-language, 1617
Interface Bus overview, 1516
HT30XC service unit, customer- Palettes, 2021
generated software programming structures, 2732
Call Library Function VI, 45, programming with, 21, 2527
46, 47 simple calculator, 2527
digital signals, 4142 Tools Palette, 2021
I16, 48 zero behavior of, 27
LabVIEW data logger, 44 LabVIEW data logger, 4448
Operating HT30XC using read analog input channels,
customer-generated software, 4447
39 read digital input channels, 47
ReadAnalog Function VI, 44, 46 writing the analog outputs, 47
USB interface driver function writing the digital outputs, 4748
calls, 42 LabVIEW interface, experiment, 67
WriteAnalog Function, 47, 48 LabVIEW VI program
algorithm of the program, 5051
I Block Diagram, 5860
Information server application controls, 5153
information interface controls tab, 5457
(ISAPI), 4 design of front panel, 5358
Internet, perform experiment execution controls, 5253
installing prerequisite software, mathematical derivation, 6164
6869 PID parameters values, 59,
web site, 68 6165
Index 111
pre-lab instructions tab, 53 Transmission control protocol/

readings tab, 5758 Internet protocol (TCP/IP)
software, 5051 solution, 3
stacked sequence structure, 53
ultimate cycle method, 6465 U
Universal serial bus (USB),
O 3637
Operating HT30XC using USB. See Universal serial bus
customer-generated software, USB interface driver function
39 calls, 4244
Operating systems supported, by read analog, 4243
LabVIEW, 13 read digital, 43
set mode, 44
P write analog, 43
PID control of the heater, 7885 write digital, 4344
Programming structures,
LABVIEW V
Formula Node, 32, 33 VI. See Virtual instrument
For Loop, 2829 Virtual instrument (VI), 15, 49.
sequence, 2930 See also LABVIEW VI
program
R Virtual Lab
ReadAnalog Function VI, 44, 46 concept of, 12
factors influence, 8793
S history of distance
Shell and tube heat exchanger learning, 12
experiment, 6974, 95101 key elements of, 8
SIWG. See Synthetic instrument learning theory, 67
working group model hierarchy, 9
Synthetic instrument working overview, 24
group (SIWG), 34 project requirements, 45
role design, 67
T system architecture, 79
TCP/IP solution. See Transmission Web user interface, 910
control protocol/Internet
protocol solution W
Temperature control, PID Web user interface, 910
parameters values, 59, 6165 WriteAnalog Function, 47, 48
FORTHCOMING TITLES FROM OUR THERMAL
SCIENCE AND ENERGY COLLECTION
Derek Dunn-Rankin, Editor
Advanced Technologies in Biodiesel: Introduction to Principles and

Emerging Trends 12/31/2014
By Aminul Islam
Advanced Technologies in Biodiesel: New Advances in Designed and

Optimized Catalysts 12/31/2014
By Aminul Islam
Optimization of Cooling Systems 2/15/2015

By David Zietlow
Graphical Thermodynamics 3/1/2015

By Moufid Hilal
Momentum Press is looking for authors in this collection and in many

more engineering and science areas. For more information on how to join
the Momentum Press author team, please visit www.momentumpress.net/
collections.
Announcing Digital Content Crafted by Librarians

Momentum Press offers digital content as authoritative treatments of advanced
engineering topics, by leaders in their fields. Hosted on ebrary, MP provides practitioners,
researchers, faculty and students in engineering, science and industry with innovative
electronic content in sensors and controls engineering, advanced energy engineering,
manufacturing, and materials science. Momentum Press offers library-friendly terms:
perpetual access for a one-time fee
no subscriptions or access fees required
unlimited concurrent usage permitted
downloadable PDFs provided
free MARC records included
free trials
The Momentum Press digital library is very affordable, with no obligation to buy in
future years.
EBOOKS Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for
FRIDMAN MAHAJAN
FOR THE Students and Engineers
THERMAL SCIENCE AND ENERGY
ENGINEERING Theory and Guide for Setting Up ENGINEERING COLLECTION
LIBRARY Ella Fridman Harshad S. Mahajan Derek Dunn-Rankin, Editor
Create your own Laboratory experiments are a vital part of engineering education,
Customized Content which historically were considered impractical for distance learning.
Bundlethe more This book presents a guide for the practical employment of a heat
Heat Transfer
books you buy, transfer virtual lab for students and engineers.
the greater your Inside, the authors have detailed this virtual lab which is designed
and can implement a real-time, robust, and scalable software sys-
Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for Students and Engineers

discount!
tem that provides easy access to lab equipment anytime and any-
Virtual Lab for

where over the Internet. They introduce and explain LabVIEW in
THE CONTENT
easy-to-understand language. LabVIEW is a proprietary software
Manufacturing
tool by National Instruments, and can be used to develop fairly
Engineering
complex instrumentation systems (measurement and control).
Mechanical
Students and
Fridman and Mahajan combined Internet capabilities with tra-
& Chemical
ditional laboratory exercises to create an efficient environment to
Engineering
carry out interactive, online lab experiments. Thus, the virtual lab
Materials Science
can be used from a remote location as a part of a distance learning
& Engineering
Engineers
strategy. With this book, youll be capable of executing VIs (Virtual
Civil &
Instruments) specifically developed for the experiment in question,
Environmental
providing you with great ability to control the remote instrument
Engineering
and to receive and present the desired experimental data.
Advanced Energy
Technologies Ella Fridman, PhD, was assistant professor and graduate program
director at University of Toledo until 2008 when she died in a car
THE TERMS
Perpetual access for
accident. She started as junior scientist at the Institute of Thermo-
physics of the Ukrainian Academy of Science. In 1989 Ella Fridman Setting Up
a one time fee became a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and continued to work
No subscriptions or in the same Institute as senior scientists until 1990 when she immi-
access fees grated to the United States.
Unlimited Harshad Mahajan, MS, graduated from University of Toledo. He
concurrent usage worked as a software development specialist at Dox Systems LLC
Downloadable PDFs
Free MARC records
for three years before moving back to India. In India, he did free-
lancing and online tutoring. He has also worked with esteemed Ella Fridman
organizations like J.P. Morgan Chase and L&T Infotech. He pres-
For further information,
a free trial, or to order,
ently works as a Java application developer in Mumbai.
Harshad S. Mahajan
contact:
sales@momentumpress.net
ISBN:
ISBN: 978-1-60650-548-9
978-1-60650-574-8

Heat Transfer Virtual Lab For Students and Engineers (2014)

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Heat Transfer Virtual Lab For Students and Engineers (2014)

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

EBOOKS Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for

Heat Transfer Virtual Lab for Students and Engineers

Virtual Lab for

ELLA FRIDMAN AND

MOMENTUM PRESS, LLC, NEW YORK

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

First published by Momentum Press, LLC

ISBN-13: 978-1-60650-548-9 (print)

Momentum Press Thermal Science and Energy Engineering Collection

Cover design by Jonathan Pennell

Printed in the United States of America

Laboratory experiments are a vital part of engineering education, which

armfield, distance learning, engineering education, heat exchanger, heat

4Design of LabVIEW VI Program 49

Figure 1.1. Key elements of a virtual lab 8

Figure 3.3. Function tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my guide Dr. Ella Fridman

The objective of this project is to design a user-friendly and efficient

1.1HISTORY OF DISTANCE LEARNING AND

During the last decade, we have witnessed rapid developments of com-

Students like it better if given a chance to collaborate in small learning

1.2WHAT IS VIRTUAL LAB?

The main objective of a Virtual Lab is to design and implement a real-

classrooms is an emerging trend for promoting individual discovery as

In this solution, the lab-side server runs a full version of LabVIEW,

1.3ANALYSIS OF PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

1. Model an active remote-learning environment that engages the stu-

A discussion of the salient pedagogical features of the onsite program is

1. Lectures by expert instructors

1.4LEARNING THEORY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON

In addition to a rich repertoire of learning resources and aids, e-learning

3. Involve continuous assessment

1.5 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

It is prototype system that is intended to support experiments in the area of

Universal configuration suitable and easily adopted to various

Clear distinction and defined communication between classes on different

Lab in-charge Students

Logical layer Lab scheduling Reporting

Application Client software

Figure 1.1. Key elements of a Virtual Lab.

between classes remain the same. Remote access to experiment and

1.6 MODEL HIERARCHY

1.7 WEB USER INTERFACE

The logic is used for the following:

1. What is the main objective of a Virtual Lab?

3. What is the problem with using applets for designing a Virtual

Developer writes JAVA Program

JVM converts the java bytecode to platform specific

Figure 1.2. How JVM functions.

scientists and engineers community. Instrumentation is a piece of

LabVIEW supports the various operating systems: as listed in 01: Operat-

Table 1.1. Operating Systems supported by LabVIEW

Windows Mac OS X Linux Sun Solaris

Windows NT Tiger Red Hat SPARC 32-Bit

If the reader is already familiar with LabVIEW, this chapter can be

2.1 LabVIEW INTRODUCTION

LabVIEW is a very nice tool for scientists, engineers, and academies to

1. Graphical language (G-language) programs called virtual instru-

a. Icons: These are means of representing operations and sub-Vis.

To engineers, scientists, researchers, and all of us, it is more intuitive to

Figure 2.1. Debugging tools in LabVIEW.

Table 2.1. Color code representation of data

Color Data Type

4Design of LabVIEW VI Program 49

Figure 1.1. Key elements of a virtual lab 8

Figure 3.3. Function tab setup of ReadAnalog function via Call

1.1HISTORY OF DISTANCE LEARNING AND

1.2WHAT IS VIRTUAL LAB?

1.3ANALYSIS OF PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

1.4LEARNING THEORY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON

3.1OPERATING HT30XC USING